The phone rang late on Sunday and Miss handed it to me without answering it. It was my sister KA and she didn’t sound very good. She told me that my Mom had been taken to the hospital with an apparent heart attack. Mom’s 83 and has been without Dad for 13 years. I guess you could say she’s had trouble with her heart for quite awhile.
I didn’t sleep well on Sunday. I kept thinking about how tough my Mom is and what a lousy, long distance son I’ve become.
Long story kept short. Good news it turns out. Regarding Mom, that is. After staying the night at the hospital and then being run through a battery of tests they determined that Marie had had NO attack. No heart damage. None. They told her she was free to go home and my sister was none to happy to get her out of there. End of story, I guess.
Here’s the real heart of the matter. My Mom’s heart has been under constant attack, not unlike your’s I am sure. Mom grew up in La Crosse, Kansas during the depression. Her brother and her were raised mostly by their Mom. You see, her father went west looking for work. He didn’t return for quite awhile. Mom would grow up without her Dad and would only see men when her mother took one in as a renter. That was never a gentleman.
The well water Mom drank as a child turned her “pretty whites” an unseemly brown, with splotches to make matters worse. She would somehow make it through school and end up in nursing school when she met and fell for Chet. They would marry and she would work while he tried to finish med school.
Eventually they would find their way to Salina, Kansas and settle down on S. 11th. Children would not come without taking some more of Mom’s heart. She and Dad would suffer through three miscarriages and then when one finally made it to full term he would only live a day and the next only slightly longer. David Michael Scott and Charles Godwin Scott are my brothers. Brothers I never got to know.
Finally KA would arrive healthy and was followed quickly by Mary and me. KA would go away to Wheaton College, Mary to K-State and a couple others and finally me to Taylor. None of us would return home. Another heart departure for Mom.
As I think about my Mom and I think about our hearts, mine is filled everytime I think about Marie. Marie always gave me the greatest gift a mother can. She still does. My Mom always gave me the gift of Pascal’s four words…
“I believe in YOU.”
Soooo, as you go back to your day take heart. Think about your Mom’s heart, your son’s, your neighbors, your friends, your coworkers and remember this. Their heart is under attack. They may look like little Miss Sunshine or Mr. Perfect, but underneath they’ve got a heart that is under attack just like your’s and just like mine. It’s amazing how filled your heart can become when it see’s the attack of another’s heart and chooses to “fill” instead of fight.
Hey Mom, glad your hearts not damaged. AND, thanks for all the free “fills.”
LOVE.
BUILT TO LEAD 