And Then, There Were Two

Our mother came from a family of ten great kiddos. There were four sisters and six brothers. Mother was born August 16, 1915 and she was the 'next to last!' Hubert, the baby brother of the entire group was the last and last November, we celebrated his 90 th birthday. After that, came December and Aunt Lois's birthday, 97. The last two that we continue to hold in thought and prayer and love as we always have.
Thinking of Aunt Lois tonight, I recall many of her visits to our home in Bellmead when it was mother and me living there. She lived in Galveston all of her life until several years ago when her children relocated her to Clear Lake City. But...her visits were fun, we all acted crazy and one never knew what stories would be told!
As I recall the laughter rattled our windows on several occasions. I distinctly recall the spring when Aunt Lois came, she was 67 and every day she drove over to Figure World to do her workout.. She was battling a frozen shoulder, I think, and this was assigned her as a part of her recovery.
One of the old pictures I have of her was in our home, standing in front of the cradenza that day,dressed for exercise. In long pants, you say? Why, certainly not!!! All the Davis gals were lookers in their early years and for the most part, remained so throughout life. Aunt Lois had dawned black liatards with a skin tight, black body suit and a pink scarf tied round her neck!! Ooo, lala! Off she went every morning while there...we teased her, made her smile and ushered her out the door!
She and mother were like twins, although five years apart in age. They liked the same colors, the same style clothes, the same this, the same that. They would talk long distance and discover they each had been shopping and basically, almost purchased the same item!!
One day when we were visiting her in Galveston, we stopped at one of the little malls and went browsing in a department store. We had a 'running joke' with her about BLOUSES!! If you got her within 100 feet of a department store, Aunt Lois was going to buy a blouse!!
On that particular day, I strolled to the counter as she was checking out. The clerk said, "may I please see your license?" Slowly, Aunt Lois fumbled her wallet out of her purse and onto the counter. She opened her wallet to her picture and I began to laugh. No, I wasn't being disrespectful, I called mother over to the counter and said, "mother, please take your driver's license out and show us." She did...both pictures of those two sisters were almost identical. They each had 'blinked' when they said smile and their eyes were half closed. The two of them looked as though they had been on a drinking binge.
I told you, twins, five years apart!!
Words cannot describe the closeness these two shared throughout life. They worried over each other, they came to help out when the other faced health issues and they seemed to know magically what was happening to the other.
For the last eight weeks of my mother's life, she struggled in the hospital to 'win the race' just one more time. It was not to be. A few days before mother's demise, I was sitting beside her bed when the phone rang in the middle of the afternoon. It was Nancy, Aunt Lois's daughter telling me Aunt Lois had suffered a stroke and was in St.Luke's Hospital just across the walkway from us. I thanked her for the call...and, as weak as my mother was, she whispered, "was that Nancy?" I replied, "yes." Mother said, "what's wrong? Is Lois okay?" I fibbed and said, "yes everything is fine."
I didn't want to share that news with my sweet mother ... it would have broken her heart. Two days passed and out of the clear blue she said, "why did Nancy really call? Lois is in trouble, isn't she?" I told the truth and told her what had happened. In her most loving voice, mother whispered with a smile, "I'm glad she's okay, one of us has to make it." It was only two days after that mother departed this life.
You see, we all have grown into life with love and care, nurturing and reassurance and strong ties to all of the important people in our lives. We have 'been there' for each other, we have held each other in thought and prayer and we have been the solid rock in trying times.
As I journey into this surgery and life altering experience, I hold fast to all of the marvelous people, memories, and more that have brought me to this shore. I have fear, anxiety, excitement and all, rolled into one big package.
The bottom line however is...family, unconditional love and emotional strength we gain from those around us enable us to do great things. I saw my surgeon for the first time today. I have a huge decision to make by January 1. He has strongly encouraged me to have the BYPASS instead of the LAP BAND procedure. According to him, I am a prime candidate due to all the issues I have from the sleep apnea round in March, 2004. What will I do? Not sure tonight.
I have a September appointment with my tremendous pulmonologist and I have to discuss a lengthy surgery with him...due to the pulmonary hypertension of my lungs. I also must see a Baylor College of Med Cardiologist for some major tests to make sure the heart's still tickin'...so, it's a journey and the time will fly!!!
Best part, I'm gettin' a ROUND TUIT!!
As I close out this tale, the word tickin' reminded me of a funny, funny event. Nancy and Donald had a gorgeous two-story house in Clear Lake City. Of course, Aunt Lois visited often and loved her grand babies and all the events. She wore a hearing aide for many years...it had a tiny, round battery and was a pain to change out. One day she went into the half bath downstairs at Nancy's to change her battery. She also carried her tiny, round, pink heart pill in to take with a cup of water.
She chose to take her pill first, so she laid the battery on the counter. After chugging the pill she removed her hearing aide from her ear and reached for the battery...low and behold it was HER TINY, PINK PILL!!! Yep, she had taken the battery. They rushed her to the emergency room for xrays and all...and I was told that for many months following, Aunt Lois received a phone call every day from the battery company to see how she was doing!!!
Morale to the story....she took a lickin' and kept on tickin'!!! Me thinks I can do that as well!!!