Keep it Real Wednesday
August 31, 2022
What have I learned (Part 8, Bravery)
As I reflected on some of Rosemary’s attributes, I pondered over the word bravery. Was my mom brave? I guess I never thought of her that way, but my answer is YES.
She was one of the bravest people I know.
Rosemary was a child of immigrants from Ireland, first generation American.
As a child, she overcame polio and was invited to the first March of Dimes picnic in Cleveland.
As a young adult, she watched her friends leave for war. Some to NEVER return, some to RETURN, but NEVER the same.
She watched her community come together through the great depression in caring for each other
She answered a wrong number and met my dad.
She held a scorpion because her grandson asked her to.
She took a rafting trip from Riggins downstream without knowing how to swim with a great fear of water just to have an adventure with her grandkids
She overcame a triple bypass.
She kissed her husband goodbye as he died in their home from cancer.
She lost 3 babies to miscarriages and had said final goodbyes to all but 2 members of her St. Patrick’s Class in Cleveland.
She was almost without peers.
She said YES to a gift of a passenger bike for her 92nd birthday.
At the end, she knew she was dying. We didn’t really talk about it but there was a bravery about her and an excitement about going to heaven.
I was blessed to hold her hand as she BRAVELY took her last earthly breath.
