Today is a sad day for me. One year ago today, my mother make her transition. It was a very stressful day to begin with. Hurricane Ike had made landfall in the early morning hours. Out house had sustained some minor damage from the winds and falling trees. We had no power, that went out the evening before. The city was in chaos. People were not prepared for the devastation that this little hurricane brought.

Mom had been ill for some time. I’ve written her about what happened, so I won’t go into it again. We were fortunate enough to get mom in hospice care right before the hurricane, so she was safe from the effects that it had on the rest of the city.

The morning of the 13th was still rainy and the wind was blowing. Not as hard as it had been, but blowing. All the animals had been locked in the house with us through the night, so I got up to let them out. They all went outside to potty, but were greatly confused by the tree blocking their way to the back yard.

After the weather cleared some, I went out with a hand saw (a small one is all I could find) and started trying to cut a path to the back yard. After a few hours, I had trimmed enough of the branches out and the dogs slipped through to the back. It was still too dense for me to get back there, but the dogs had no problem. A few more hours and I had a path to the back. It was late in the afternoon, and I was taking a break, sitting on a bench out by the side of the house. My wife and youngest daughter were with me.

It’s strange that there are some thing that you will never forget. Things like, what were you doing on 9-11? Or where were you when you got ‘that phone call’? Well that phone call found me sitting on the bench. After I hung up, I told my wife and daughter, got up, and started back trimming out as much of the tree as I could before dark.

I love you mom, I always have and will forever. I miss you too. I pray that I did everything right, and that I made you proud.