Corey J Feldman

Grammy Bobbi – Kick Ass nurse, we miss you Mom.

My mother passed away suddenly about 14 months ago, and there hasn’t been a day since that I haven’t thought of her.  She left a huge hole in our lives that will never be filled.  But as with everything else in life, you adjust.  We made it through the first set of birthdays and holidays.  She is missed terribly, but we have focused on making these events enjoyable for the kids.  Melissa and I have had far less alone time but we started using babysitters for an occasional night out. We miss Mom’s brisket, but we can throw together a  pretty decent approximation, not to mention Dad has dusted off his chef hat and come up with his own creations and future holiday favorites.  There are countless other ways my mom impacted our lives.  Some big, some small, but you find new ways to get things done.  You have new routines that become, well, routine. You don’t stop missing the person you lost, but you are also not constantly thinking – OK Mom used to do XYZ, what do we do now.  Then every so often life throws up a reminder.

Our beautiful little germ factories have kept us all under the weather for the better part of 6 months. At least 1 ER visit and a whole lot of stress would have been avoided if my Mom was still alive.  She was a brilliant Pediatric ICU Nurse. The kind of nurse that doctors call on for advice and counsel. She was an amazing resource for us and for friends, family,  and neighbors.  But of course it also meant as kids we could not fake sick. In fact, even if we were sick, we weren’t.  The old joke in our house was, if you weren’t on a ventilator you weren’t really sick – so do your homework, go to school, swim practice, whatever…  It’s not that we don’t have wonderful resources.  The boy’s Pediatrician lives down the street, and we have a friend who lives a couple houses away who is also a Pediatrician. But a friend is not your mom, and my mom only lived 2 miles away.

As  for our latest medical reminder, Joshua has a double ear infection and once again refuses to take his antibiotics. We have literally had to force it down his throat.  The first time he got so upset, he threw it up about 30 seconds later.   This is absolutely emotionally scaring. Probably not for him,  I think he’ll get over it.  Melissa and me, that is a different story. I have no doubt my mom would have not only gotten him to take the antibiotic without the crying, screaming and projectile vomiting, but she would have also been at our house twice a day until we could do it ourselves or until he finished his course of antibiotics.  It would never have occurred to her to do anything less.

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