The Hardest Thing

What do you do when your mother calls up and tells you she has cancer?  I tried to take in as much as I could without getting caught up in the word.  That's where my breath stopped.  I heard bits and pieces of things she said, like consultation and surgery,  but that's about it.  Thank goodness I was able to focus on trying to remember what she said instead of my own selfishness,my potential loss.  Now the tears come.  It's the hardest thing I've ever had to digest.  No one wants to hear that their mother has cancer.  No one.  Especially not my mother.  

She is our rock.  She's the one I could turn to knowing that I wouldn't be judged.  Her lessons for me are not spoken, for the most part.  I knew what the right thing to do was. I saw, and continue to see,  her do the right thing.  She leads by example.  


Now it is my turn to be strong for her.  God, give me the strength to be strong for her, for my dad, my brother and the rest of the family.  It is my turn to show her that she taught me well.  Take up the fight and do not give up.