A Mother’s Love - My Story

My story began on a cool Fall Friday, September 16, 1960; the day I was born. Let us go back to Thursday, September 15th about 9.30 PM. I heard a voice call out, “It’s time to go to the hospital.” So off we went! These two humans and I arrive at Woman’s Medical Hospital, which incidentally is now a Psych Hospital, which may or may not explain a lot about me now! Somewhere around midnight, I hear the female humans voice say, “Doctor, I think he’s ready to come out now.” Since I had no idea what these humans were talking about, I roll over and went to sleep. Besides, I was still angry about suddenly being upside down now.

When I finally awoke, it was late Friday morning. I was looking forward to breakfast! It was not as good as usual, but I needed to eat so I made the best of this situation. I could hear all this commotion, humans speaking about he will come out when he is ready. I had no idea they were speaking of me. Besides, come out to where? I was happy where I was; it was warm, I was being fed, I could play and sleep when I wanted, and I was getting used to being upside down. I still could not figure out why I seemed to be getting lower and lower.

Then, 3:15 came, I could hear voices yelling, “It’s time.” I think he’s ready.” I wanted to take a nap. Time for what? Who’s ready to do what I thought? I could see this bright light. Why do I seem to be moving closer to this light? I tried to slow my decent, but I could not. At 3:25 everything changed. Suddenly, I was not in my warm enclosure any longer. It seemed as if I was being handed to one human after another. I wanted to be put back where I had been warm and felt safe. No matter how much noise I made, no one seemed to care. The humans seemed to enjoy my noise. Then an idea came to mind, if they like this noise so much, I think I will rest up, then make this same noise around 2 in the morning. This way, we could all enjoy my noise together.

I was finally handed to a human who called herself Mommy. She held me close and whispered, “Mommy loves you.” I thought this Mommy person seemed pretty nice, maybe I wouldn’t need to return to where I was before moving towards the light. Little did I know this would just be the beginning of a long journey with Mommy and Daddy. By the way, neither mommy nor daddy found my noise very joyful at 2 o’clock in the morning.

A Mother’s love? My mother played catch with me and would pitch to me when my Father worked. She would make a circle of her arms so I could shoot baskets. I learned to use her neck and chest as my back board. She was my goalkeeper when I learned to play soccer. She came to many of my various sports games while I was growing up. Truth be told, my Mother spent most of those games covering her eyes for fear I would be injured.

When I went away to college, I called home once a week. Not because I was homesick, I was asked/told to do so. (That went for my Grandparents too!) Maybe I was homesick just a little. Cafeteria food cannot compare a Mother’s kitchen. There is a reason why fried chicken, collard greens and candied yams and homemade biscuits are called, “Soul Food.” Those foods nourish your body while enriching your soul, like a Mother’s love.

Nearly two years ago I became sick. Since I do not get sick very often, I tend to self-diagnose. I was wrong again. By the time I went to see my Doctor, she only looked at me and called The EMT Transport. Next stop, The Hospital of The University of Pennsylvania. That was April 30, 2019. The next day near lunchtime, when I opened my eyes, there was my Mother seated in the chair next to my bed. She calmly said to me, “We will stay prayed up and the doctors will fix whatever is wrong.” A Mother’s Love. Thirty minutes later, my wife, Debora, and our youngest daughter Marissa, came to visit me. I could tell seeing me with tubes inserted everywhere and being hooked up to machines, it scared our daughter. Debora whispered in her ear, “Daddy is going to be okay. He has people praying for him and good Doctors.” A Mother’s Love.

Later that evening a member of the hospital staff came to my room and asked what I wanted for dinner. I replied that I wanted my Mother to cook my meal. I wanted fried chicken, collard greens, candied yams, and homemade biscuits. It did occur to me this meal more than likely was not going to stay down, but it would have been great for my soul while it lasted.

I was released from the hospital May 10, 2019. Since that day I can count on my fingers the days my Mother and I have not spoken at least once in a day. We still end our phone calls the same way we did when I was a little – “I Love You”. A Mother’s Love is forever.