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Friday, December 21, 2018

Christmas Holidays 2018 ... How Not To Get That Phone Call

Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee/aka GG ... 2018



Today is Friday before holidays begin. With my Heart, I hope families setting out to travel to their parents' homes will read my message ... let it make an impression on you as you drive ... please be careful on the road so you can arrive safely to see their happy, relieved smiles. Parents ... do the same for your children.
I lost my son on Memorial Day holiday weekend holidays ... it wasn't traffic-related. It was unexpected, medical. Tommy didn't know he had 3 blockages to his heart.
Anyway ... my point here is ... he called me just 9 miles from the hotel at Myrtle Beach, SC ... saying they would arrive in a few minutes ... I love you, Mom and I'll call you in a little while.
I felt very happy knowing my son, his family was safe ... your parents/children will feel the same once they see or hear from you to know you are safe. It means the world to know one's children are safe because no matter how old they are ... a mother worries.
I think of a friend of mine here who lost his son ... so, I know fathers worry too. I'm always speaking as the mother, now I think of that person too.
The little while came and the phone rang, caller ID showed Tommy. I was smiling when I picked up the phone to answer him ... smiling because as a mother I was relieved they had made it safely through the holiday traffic.
I lost my smile, it's still in the darkness I lived in for years after that call. A stranger's voice said, "Ma'am, I've got a man here collapsed on the beach ... he's not breathing". Oh my, the world changed for me in the most awful way ... it was the worst pain I've ever felt, it still is.
Now, back to the point I was making ...   I know the happiness a mother feels in her heart knowing her child has made it safely to where he/she is going. That is the way your parents/mother/children will feel once they know you come through the huge, crowded jungle/ocean of cars to come share holidays with them.
You mean everything to your loved ones no matter who they are, just as my son meant everything to me. I speak from a grieving mother's viewpoint ... I know what I am saying to be true. I got that phone call ... it destroyed me for years.
You don't want that to happen ... be alert, watch out for the ones who won't listen for any reason ... who drive, drink, drug. They are like a train wreck going down the road ... just a matter of time before wrecking ... before taking out innocent lives.
In my life the positive since May 29, 2010 ... is I have made the sort of peace I needed to make in order for me to go on with my life ... I didn't know that I'd ever recover. Recover I did. Just a short couple of weeks ago, my son's daughter came into my life ... I'm getting to be a grandmother instead of just in name only. All I got to do is be Me   Special.
I have Skip Bates, my husband and our Pups3 ... and a good feeling inside that no matter what we face at this Christmas ... everything is going to be alright. We don't have a Christmas tree first time ever because we have to move, in place of the Christmas tree are boxes with our belongings in them.
Do you know what? I'm not sad because I've been sad for many years. The years have taught me how fortunate I am in having my husband, Pups3 and people who care about us. I am so grateful ... just so grateful. I could be all alone in this big, old world. Not only that ... a beautiful child who has come into my life ... a real part of me and my son ... my granddaughter.
I pay attention to families ... I want them all to be safe. I love to stand back, listen to the sounds they make while laughing, talking, playing, working ... whatever. Remember this: there aren't any better sounds in this world than your child's or a loved one.
Protect yourselves, be safe. You are special to someone. I wish from my Heart for everyone to have the safest holidays ... I woke up thinking about this. Thinking about the only phone call a mother wants is one to let her mind be relieved knowing her babies are safe.
It doesn't matter how old you are ... my son was 40 years old when he died ... he would have been 48 years old last month. 
Written by Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee/aka GG
Photos owned by Me, also.

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