Last Mothers Day

Myra C Riley in wheelchair and Polly Mazariegos standing behind her.

 

Myra Riley’s Last Mothers Day

by Polly Mazariegos

 

I was trying to think of a favorite Mother’s Day memory, and all the memories I had with my mother, Myra C. Riley, were favorites.

 

I remember when I was working in DC and could not come up to Gettysburg, PA to see her, I would always sent her flowers. Mom loved flowers.

She had hyacinths, tulips and her other planted flowers of peonies and lilacs. When the lilacs bloomed, she would cut some off and bring them inside the house for all to smell.

 

Each year she sometimes got flowers and taken out to eat. She loved eating out because most of her life she made big meals for the family. So to her, going out to eat was a treat.

 

Each year her children would bring her either a hyacinth, which, after it died, she gracefully planted in her flower garden. The same for tulips. Her lilacs were taken as a twig from Nanny’s (Emma Wike’s) house. It bloomed every year. We took pictures of her holding some lilacs that she then took them inside the house to smell and look at.

 

I remember very vividly her last Mother’s Day, although, at the time, we had no idea that it would be her last.

 

She had been on dialysis for quite a while now, and she tired easily. But it was Mother’s Day and a few of us decided to take her to Perkins restaurant, which she loved.

 

She could only tolerate swallowing soft items, so we got her the usual favorite of scrambled eggs. She seemed to have difficulty even swallowing them, and she choked a lot on food. I had to remind her to chew her food as she would forget that she had food in her mouth.

 

Several of her grandkids came and she enjoyed seeing them. I could see she was getting weak as she now had to get around in a wheel chair. She loved to laugh, so I would do the usual funny stuff to make her laugh.

 

That May, on May 31, 2002, Mother passed away.

 

Her children still miss her three years later, as she was the glue that held us together. She never expected anything for Mother’s Day except having all her kids around her. We knew what she wanted. Just her kids and flowers, but mostly just her kids with her.

 

At one time, I saw in the card shop a card a card that said To the most wonderful Mother. I bought it and gave it to her because, to me, she was that wonderful Mother.

 

As I end this story, I remember Mom’s smile and laughter at everything funny, and she was always happy to have her children around her. I still miss her a lot. She was a one in a One in a million Mother.

 

Published in U S Legacies Magazine May 2005