In 1995 my mom moved from our hometown of Washington, DC to the Twin Cities in Minnesota. After a delay of 25 years, she had recently finished her college degree, and she was ready to move from administrative assistant to legal affairs. So at the age of 55 she left behind her entire family to move to a new place where she knew not a soul.
I’m proud to say that she thrived there, building a happy and successful life. And when it came time to retire, after weighing her options, she chose to stay there in the community she had become a part of. With modern technology and the means to travel, the thousand miles between us didn’t seem so bad, and even as she approached 80 she was fiercely independent, and rightfully so.
But in March of 2019, when she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, the distance suddenly became a sobering complication in our all out effort to support her in the battle for her life.
I will be forever thankful for my brother and the fact that he was able to spend the month of March with her and help navigate her initial testing and diagnosis at the Mayo Clinic. And I feel fortunate that I was able to take a couple weeks off from school to get her started on chemo. And then my aunt came out for another six weeks to see her through, followed by my sister and my niece. Along with her friends, we all pitched in to support her through the grueling weeks of chemo, knowing that radiation and surgery were on the horizon.
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