CONTEST: Honor Mom at SteemingCommunity

Greetings to all Steemingzen!

My darling, sweetheart, I'm sorry that I never told you about my love when you were alive. It's been seven years since you passed away, but almost every day I think about you, about your life, and about how the older I get, the more I resemble you.

And it's true what they say, we don't take care in life, but we cry when we lose it. That's what happens to me when I think of you, especially in this moment as I write my confession. But these are tears of joy! Tears of repentance! Thank God you never knew any problems with me, because you had enough others in your life and apparently God helped you with me.

My mother was born on January 3, 1926, in the village of Lodma in the Arkhangelsk region. In a large family, where there were 4 brothers, 2 older sisters, one younger one died soon after. The brothers went to the front and never returned home. And my mother at the age of 15 left for Severodvinsk, entered a military factory and began her working life, until her retirement.

My mom went to school with great pleasure, though she had to walk 10 km in the winter, in drifts too. Literature was her favorite subject. And she knew by heart many poems, fables and poems. And even in extreme old age she loved to read books, as long as her eyesight allowed. Especially in her old age she was afraid of getting the disease - multiple sclerosis, because she saw my father-in-law suffering from this illness.

She invented a brain workout for herself. Every evening, lying in bed, she whispered to herself by heart poems and fables from her distant childhood. She told me that at first she recalled line by line, phrase by phrase, everything was reconstructed bit by bit from the depths of her memory. Can you imagine a grandmother of 85 years, which recalls school poems, which she learned in country school 70 years ago? And she was able to recall 29 school poems, 10 fables and maybe 2-4 poems. For me, it was fun. I'm kind of too rational. I knew for a fact that my mom couldn't have M.S. and so I used to make fun of her by saying: "Mom, have you found a new thing to do?" I know for a fact that I don't have her abilities and I'm unlikely to be able to remember school poems as she did in my old age.

I was born when my mother was 35 years old. And I was completely unaware that my mother was a woman of age. My classmates first hinted at this when they asked me who came to school for me, my mother or my grandmother? I all proudly replied that it was my mom! And myself began to pay attention to the mothers of my classmates, they were all young, with hair and makeup! And my mom never used lipstick in her life, she never even had face cream. But her facial skin was exceptionally beautiful, even in her old age there were very, very few wrinkles on her face. In this I am in her, thank you, my dear!

I still can't understand how it was possible at 85 or 88 to have skin on her body like a young woman! Not a hint of cellulite, it was nowhere to be seen. And the neckline, especially the shoulders, they could show off in open dresses, the envy of young girls! Unfortunately, my mother never wore beautiful dresses, she was ashamed to draw attention to herself. She did not think of herself as beautiful, much less modern. Looking back at the 70s and 80s, I realize that our women became grandmothers very early in life. At 50, women seemed to be grandmothers, unbelievable? But that was exactly how it was in Russia. I'm glad that times are changing and most Russian women when they reach 50+ do not think like that, they are active, interesting, look like models, self-sufficient !

I remember coming to visit my mother and organizing her 85th birthday party. We were preparing, planning and suddenly on her birthday in the morning she couldn't get out of bed, her head was spinning. Guests are invited, salads are cut, meat is soaked in sauce. The apartment is scrubbed to a shine. And she seemed very nervous, something that worried her, but I calmed her down, said that the cancellation of the celebration will not hold it, even if we have to put a holiday table at her bedside. But... Guests began to arrive, relatives from Arkhangelsk, my older brother with the family, my girlfriends. My daughter and my nephew and I. And such a soulful evening turned out. And mom was shining with all her light, she was telling us all the incidents from her life, she had so many warm recollections. She stayed at the table till the last moment, we had been walking for more than 7 hours, and she did not lie down even for a minute. That is what positive emotions means, a person forgets about his age, about his illness, he turns into a healthy, young, energetic person. My mother was unrecognizable!

I'm happy that we made her this holiday! The previous one was for her 50th birthday. Can you imagine 35 years without a holiday? Why didn't I make her happy when she was alive? I write this and I am surprised myself, how could I live without a holiday for my mom? I gave gifts, congratulated her on holidays, but I did not do them as grandly as I did on her 85th birthday. It's a good thing my brother made a video as a memento! Apparently, work, career, study, child! But that's no excuse, I had to make time for joys and celebrations for my mom!

After the anniversary, her eyesight became completely bad. So we decided to have her eyes examined and possibly operated on. I came to visit her again. She lived in an apartment with my nephew. He took good care of her, well done he! We went to the doctors, mom slowly began to go out. The oculist even gave us hope that she could recover her sight.
But our internist, refused to sign a consent to surgery, because my mother had four heart attacks in her life. And that was it, hope collapsed. And within a year, my mother gave up completely. She could no longer hear well, could not see, moved by touch, but she served herself completely. I had been living in Italy for nine months by that time. In the winter I went to see her alone, and for the summer, June, we booked tickets to fly together. My husband really wanted to see her, wanted to hug her like he hugged his mother. But 9 days before our trip together to Russia, my nephew called and said that on June 12, 2014, my mommy was gone.

I immediately changed my ticket and flew out to the funeral. We did very well and with dignity. Without any grief, Prete conducted the funeral service, such grace flowed from his words and the realization that my mom on the path to the transition to eternal life, her soul has found rest and we should be calm for her and understand that up there, she is better and she no longer has any pain. My husband was very sorry that he could not fly with me, these visa strict rules.... so disturbing to live with in difficult moments when you need support!

A month later I had a dream, I see a photo, as they used to make old photos, my mother is sitting on a chair with a high carved back, an old lady in a scarf, and my father is standing next to her young, my mother outlived my father by 29 years. Strangely enough, I realized they had met there!

Last year on Italian Channel One there were meetings with Roberto Benini, the famous Italian director and actor. He prepared a series of lectures on how he understands the 10 basic biblical commandments. One of them reads, "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be well, and that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you." How much he explained in human, understandable language, I was so happy to hear him and understand his explanations!

Our parents become our children in our old age, just as we once were to our parents as children. We cried and they stroked us on the head. We asked to buy a toy and they bought us one. We little ones weren't beaten or scolded. My mother certainly never even raised her voice at me. She was the kindest! My parents fed us good food, spoiled us, and loved us. Our task in our old age is to give it all to our parents. Because they become children, they forget a lot, they can't and can't do a lot because of their illnesses, so we have to be by their beds when they are sick. To take care of them and say gentle words with love at their headboard, to encourage them that they will soon get better, just as they told us when we were children, sitting long nights by our beds. And it's true, that's how it is in our lives! And the better we take care of our parents in their old age, the longer we will be able to live in this world, because God will help us to do it!

Mommy, my beloved, I ask your forgiveness for not loving you when you were alive. Just know my sweet, kind, glorious one, that my love is alive, maybe it was not expressed in words, but my soul and my good, trouble-free behavior were all aimed at you not to worry and worry about me!!! You are always in my heart, I pray for you and know that you take care and protect me from hardship and illness. Sleep in peace!

I invite you to take part in the contest @ir3k, @veta-less, @knopka145 With the terms of the contest you can find here:

https://steemit.com/hive-139293/@steemingcuration/contest-honor-mom-at-steemingcommunity-concurso-honra-a-mama-en-steeming-community

Thank you very much @steemingcuration for your contest.