RESIDENT REMEMBERS SPECIAL TIME HONORING MOTHER


LB Homes coffee cup

09 May, 2020

The following piece was written by Mike Bellmore, a resident at the Broen Home who is part of the writing club at LB Homes.

 Mother's Day is just around the corner. It is a very special day set aside to honor and recognize the woman in our lives who plays such a remarkably important role. She is the one who has been painfully absent from my life for the past five years.

My mom succumbed to cancer after a long and courageous battle that spanned over a decade. She ended her fight in a Fargo hospital surrounded by family and friends. It was the saddest day of my life.

Surrounded by family, including my dad, only sister, and one of my brothers, the memories began flowing. They provided me with an idea - an open letter to mom - in heaven. Here are some memories from way back, including dad, who was married to this wonderful woman  for nearly 67 years.

My mom and dad were married in the tiny community of Kent, Minnesota on  a night when it was 35 degrees below zero. Their marriage spanned 67 years, with its start in 1948. Dad proclaimed that he could never have found a better wife, who also was a grandmother, great grandmother, and assumed many other roles in our family.

Cathy, her only daughter, felt she had lost a best friend. ''She always made a lot of clothes for me'', she recalled. ''She made these cute little baby doll outfits for me, and she was constantly worried about everyone in the family. She sacrificed so much; just a great, great mom, who always put on great family holidays.''

Steve, her youngest son, got a big kick out of giving mom a bad time. Through his tears and laughter He remembered how mom always encouraged him to go outside and play as a youngster. “I'd go out there, ring the doorbell and tell her it was the meter man coming into the house,” he laughed.

Steve also remembered how he'd go over to a nearby grocery store where mom worked part-time and give her a bad time when dad was out on the road working on the railroad. Once he ran a neighbor's lawn mower through a fence . ''She grabbed me by the neck on that one''. Steve choked back the tears.  Steve, we'll all be able to reminisce - up above