Where were you??

It was May 23rd, 1997. I remember it was a Friday. The day began as it always did, hectic. I was 7 months pregnant with Christopher, working at Farmers Insurance Claims office. I'd get up first, get showered and ready for work. Then I'd get my toddler Michael up, get him dressed. We were then ready to go to his Aunt Janet's house.  Hugs and kisses would be exchanged and off I'd go, back to the other side of town for work.
It was a typical day, full of paper work and wrecked cars to come in to the garage for estimates. It was no day different than others. My pregnancy was going very well, and I was big. Waddling already at 7 months, I found myself relying on my coworker Lucy a lot. It was hard to continually get up and down. I lived so close to work I would always eat lunch at the house. The week prior my parents bought a new refridgerator from Gary. (he worked part time) I knew they had errands to run on this particular Friday, one of them being a check up at the doctor for mom and to go grocery shopping. I remember calling them while on my lunch hour and the stupid answering machine went on. "Dad probably took her to lunch", I thought, as he does that a lot. I continued calling their house and always got the machine. My day ended at 4:30. At 4:20 I tried one more time. BINGO!  Mom answered the phone. She was putting her groceries away in her new fridge!! Said they shopped for 2 1/2 hours. Mom said she wasn't feeling very good. She felt dizzy. I told her to go and rest, but no, she wanted to get those groceries put away. Sounds just like her. We said our goodbyes, always ending with "I love you Mom", and I told her I would call later and check up on her.Later, at the hospital, I would learn what happened within 2 hours after I spoke to mother for the last time. She and my dad sat on the edge of the bed at their home sharing about a vacation in the future to Oregon, how much she loved my brother and I, and how much she loved my dad. She complained that the room was bright. Dad closed the shade. Still bright she said, turned off the tv. Still bright. Getting up to get a glass of water, my dad asked if mom wanted anything. She said no, and fell back on the bed, in what appeared to be a resting position. Dad came back in the room, and mom was not responding. When paramedics arrived it was code blue, code red, code blue, code red. Arriving to ER, I'll always remember what I saw. I remember where I was that May 23rd. At 8:00 pm my mother was pronounced dead.Fifteen years ago today, was that day. The day I lost my strongest encourager. The day I lost my biggest defender. The day I lost my mom. May is a very difficult month for me. Mother's Day, the anniversary of her death, her birthday is May 26th, Memorial weekend, and May 29th her funeral. But I also love the month of May. Birds singing, temps rising, weddings, graduations, the smell of fresh cut grass, and the colorful flowers.  I am encouraged to know that when I worship God, mom is too!  When I am giving Him all the praise, mom is too! When I give God all the glory, mom is too! When Iam living life to its fullest, she's living hers too, in heaven. When I'm walking with Jesus, mom is too! One day, I'll not only bow down to God, I'll be reunited with my mom.If your mother is still with you, won't you write her a note, give her a call, take her to lunch, watch Wheel of Fortune with her, go shopping with her, ask advice from her, hug her, and always tell her you love and appreciate her. If there is resentment between you and your mom, FIX IT!!! Forgive her and know she did the BEST she knew how in raising you. I'm so glad mom and I had that opportunity when I was 30, to forgive and move on. The only time it's ever too late, is when she is no longer here.WOW, 15 years seems like a long time, but feels like it just happened yesterday. My mom was spared the evils of this world and denied the privilege of aging.I remember where I was that May 23rd, 1997. Do you?