August 10, 2011 – Happy birthday MOM! I love you with all my heart!

It is Wednesday August 10, 2011, and my sister and I took a road-trip from Spokane Valley, WA to Sunnyside, WA to visit my mom for her 61st birthday. The celebration was the first time in many years ALL my brothers and sisters have gathered together in one place as a family, but even with this major event, the occassion was bittersweet as my mom has been battling a horrify ailment: she is battling late-stage ovarian cancer.

When I walked in the house, I noticed my brother Andy sitting on the edge of the couch closest to the living room door: from there we hugged, then I saw my sister Annalicia and hugged her too. To my surprise, I saw mom: to be honest, I didn’t notice her when walking through the house until actually ‘looking’ and remembering that where she was sitting had always been her favorite place to sit since I can remember.

I held back the initial shock I had when I first saw her: I’m ashamed to say she was hardly visible due to her 98 lb. frame now (my mom lost a lot of weight; I suspect from the treatments), and her body curled sideways on the side of the sofa. Her hair very short and light gray now, again, due to the treatments. I sat down right next to her as she covered her face – I’m not sure if she was hiding herself from me or emotional – or a different feeling in-between – but I sat down with her and let her know I was happy to be visiting her again, I was sorry for not being around the last couple of years, and that it was her day today and we are all here for her. I believe she was crying right there.

The first thing that came into my mind at that time was that regardless of my mom’s condition, regardless of her size, the way this horrible disease has overtaken her body, her life and her freedom, she is – and always will be – a beautiful woman and MY mom. She even sports short hair like no one’s business without even trying : )

I made my way up from sitting with mom for a good minute or two to say hello to my younger brother Oscar and my dad Oscar. My nephews Frankie and Elijah were there too and greeted me as I came in. Alex – my youngest brother – looks so much like my nephew Frankie that I didn’t recognize him until I made my rounds again, but we finally got to say hello. The ‘reunion’ made my mom pretty happy from what I could tell, but she also stated she wished she could do more.

The entire family on mom’s 61st birthday

During the day, I had an opportunity to visit with every one of my siblings: some of my uncles and aunts came over too. Mom couldn’t eat the cake, but she took pictures with it. It felt good to catch up with all my brothers and sisters and parents.

Next day, Uncle Stevan and hanging out with Mom

The following day, I hung out with my mom: my dad was working and it was me, my little sister Annalicia and my two nephews at the house. Mom and I were organizing her music and rummaging through her CDs: she was picking songs for a CD I would be making for her of all her favorite songs. I got to listen to Elvis, Sade, among others – including Michael McDonald – whom I confessed to my mom that he aged well and that time wasn’t mean to him: she laughed and agreed. We then took the next two days rummaging through all her pictures in her digital camera and organizing some to print. This was a long, tedious process for my mom, but watching her reaction when images popped on the screen of people, friends and family both her and I haven’t seen in a while was worth it. Uncle Stevan came over later on and hung out with us. He recently had eye surgery, so – from my perspective – it seemed that he needed to cover his eyes now and again to get comfortable, but I neglected to ask.

I’m heading to Yakima tonight and will be staying with my friends Joe and Juan(Rogelio). I haven’t visited with Joe for a long, long time, so this will be a good reunion.