• To this day, my father’s eyes still well up with tears as he recounts the story of his mother’s passing. My grandmother had been sick with breast cancer for many years. She went through countless sessions of radiation and chemotherapy treatments. She suffered through continual pain as her body slowly gave away, going through cold sweats every few hours and losing all of her hair. Finally, my mother gave birth to me. It was as though my grandmother was anticipating my arrival, to hold me for a few moments before finally deciding that she was ready to leave this world. Maybe it was the fact that my father was her youngest child, her beautiful baby boy, that made my birth extra special for her. Perhaps it was a way for her to leave this world peacefully, knowing that her family would continue to live on. Either way, it was soon after my birth, soon after the one time I held my grandmother’s gaze, that she went into a coma and died.

    My father remembers that soon after she lost consciousness the doctors told him she would probably last no more than a couple of weeks in her condition. He decided to take a month off of work to spend every last moment he could with her. After the four weeks passed, her body had continued to deteriorate, but her heart remained strong, and my father’s obligations at work called to him since he had used up all of the vacation leave he had accumulated. So, regretfully, he gave his mother his last goodbye kiss and took the next flight to Andrews AFB, where he was stationed at the time. The night after arriving, he was restless, his body unable to sleep because of the thoughts of his dying mother haunting him throughout the night. Finally, he went to work and before he knew it, it was time for lunch. It was his habit to normally eat with his coworkers, share stories and jokes among his friends during lunch; however, on this particular day he couldn’t bring himself to even smile. Back at home, he’d been unable and unwilling to allow himself to cry, maintaining complete composure in front of his sisters, lending them his strength and courage throughout all of the heartbreak. At work, as he sat alone at his lunch table feeling dejected, his uneaten sandwich sitting before him, he had a sudden urge to cry. Pushing his lunch away, he buried his face into his hands and let the tears slowly fall down his cheeks for what seemed like a lifetime. It was at this exact moment of emotional release that he knew- that he could feel it deeply in his heart that his mother was finally home, at last.