Brain Tumor Thursday

Brain Tumor Thursday.

Hope. Wish. Dream. Be.

I really should be packing for my trip to Washington D.C. I leave tomorrow morning. I am flying into D.C. I am going to the Kennedy Center’s National Seminar for Teaching Artists. I am a professional teaching artist. If you are looking for a writing workshop for your school, business, organization, or group, check out the workshops I offer. I can tailor workshops to meet your needs too.

I spent the day cleaning, which is what I do when I need to be doing other things.

And here I am creating when I should be packing. I don’t like packing because it involves so many decisions. I am not very fond of decisions. Call me indecisive. Call me an Aries. I short circuit.

So, I am creating and this is what I created. I have made a commitment to watermarking my photos no matter how long it takes me. I do feel it takes away from the photo. I am still learning so much professionally.

Well, better get to packing. I hope you like the flower.

I host brain tumor patient profiles on my blog on Thursdays (Brain Tumor Thursday). My mom had benign brain tumors — one in her cerebellum and one on her brain stem.  She was diagnosed in 2000.  She passed away on Christmas Eve, 2012. Her funeral was July 1.  I plan on visiting her grave (urn cubby as I call it) while I am in D.C. this week. My parents are buried (inurned) in the same place. So I will visit both of them. I feel it will be less heavy on my heart as the funeral is over.  That was intense. But beautiful. I do plan on writing a post about it soon. I am writing a piece now which I will present at the South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference in November.  I am the chair of the Creative Nonfiction panel.

This is the template.

I hope…
I wish…
I dream…
I am…

I am going to fill out the template really fast and not worry about the need to elaborate. Just a quick fill in the blank.

I hope… to publish several books.

I wish… I didn’t worry so much.

I dream… of being on a talk show taking about my book.

I am… a writer.

3 Things about me…

• I am a mom; my son is three.
• I consider myself to be highly right-brained.
• My favorite color is blue, especially the blue hue of my mother’s eyes.

Feel free to fill out the template and email me at memomuse@gmail.com. I will post it on my blog.

You don’t have to have a brain tumor to submit your profile. If you do have a brain tumor or are a family member of someone who has/had one, please submit your profile and I will post it on a Thursday.

Either way, fill out: I hope, I wish, I dream, I am and share three things about yourself and a photo if you would like. The 3 things and the photo are optional.

This is the house where I lived since I was fifteen years old. This is the house where I got married. This is the house where my father died. This is the house that I knew for fifteen plus years. This is my home even though my parents and I don’t live there anymore. My parents rest now at Arlington National Cemetery.

Cheers.
Hope. Wish. Dream. Be.
Journal Your Journey

memomuse

My Christmas Eve Angel — My Mother

“When you see Santa in the sky tonight, know Betty’s got the reigns tonight. She died while I was on the phone with her 9:58 MST/11:58 EST (the nurse held the phone to her ear). 

Believe it or not, it gives me great joy and peace that she passed on Christmas Eve, exactly two minutes before midnight East Coast time. She has always been on EST as a New Yorker at heart. RIP Betty. No star ever shone brighter than you. I love you always.” — My facebook post on Christmas Eve

Betty’s Christmas Eve Angel Wings. Santa gave her a ride to Heaven on Christmas Eve. Photo from: Mother Nature Network

My mother passed away on Christmas Eve two minutes shy of midnight EST while on the phone with me. She loved Christmas Eve so much.
She died peacefully after a long illness that didn’t stop her in her tracks. She was diagnosed in 2000 with benign brain tumors (one in her cerebellum and one on her brain stem). I have written many posts about her struggle and my struggle with these tumors.

I am peace. because she is at peace.

My beautiful mom. on my wedding day. I am thankful for this moment, which is chiseled in my heart.

If you want to follow my grief chronicles I am being very open about my feelings on my facebook page, and most posts are public if you would like to follow them and subscribe to them. I am also pretty active on Twitter too. Betty is the most amazing woman I have ever known. I was lucky to call her Mom, friend, and confidant. She loved us kids with all her heart.

Rest in peace my sweet Betty Anne. You had “It.” You were magical.

“A woman whose smile is open and whose expression is glad has a kind of beauty no matter what she wears.” – Anne Roiphe
Betty when she worked as the Activities Director at The King Home — a retirement community for men in Evanston, Illinois.

Here are some posts about her if you would like to read more about her.

• Magic Mama
• Take a Number, I Just Got to Town
• Christmas Eve Wonder
• Vote Because Betty Said So

The links below take you chronologically in time when I went to Colorado when my mother was very ill and almost died.

• Light and Shadow — Chapter 1 (Written May 22, 2011)
• Light and Shadow — Chapter 2 — Snow Capped Mountain View Along the Interstate
• Light and Shadow — Chapter 3
• Faith — A Thought Essay in Photos
• Light and Shadow 4
• The Red Rose of St. Therese
• Do Something Small for Large Results
• My Mom Update — Light and Shadow

I end this post with my mother’s favorite poem by one of her favorite poets, Kahlil Gibran

I have also included the poem in written form below:

On Joy and Sorrow
 Kahlil Gibran

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Some of you say, “Joy is greater thar sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.”
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits, alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.
Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.
When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.

Kamilah, Kahlil’s mother. Painting by Kahlil Gibran