I Thought She Was Kidding

My mother had the energy of a five-ring circus She refused to walk with slow people unless they let her run circles around them while she walked She kept her cancer a secret none of us kids knew. My sister called and said Mom went by ambulance to a hospital. I drove four hours to visit her, and they were sending her home. She woke up long enough to say, “why are YOU here?” They insisted on bringing her to my truck in a wheelchair. I thought this was silly. This is a woman who can run laps around a truck while it’s moving. Is what I still thought. When we got to her apartment building she handed me her keys. She said, “Go down the hallway and get the wheelchair.” I thought she was kidding, so I laughed. Then I felt small. She meant it. I got the wheelchair and manuevered her to her apartment. It was the last day she would be there. The next two months she spent in hospitals or a nursing home. The last day I saw her was her last day on Earth. I began praying God would take her home. She was tucked into her bed in heaven by angels that night. Cancer is a disease I would not wish on anyone.