What my Mom taught me.

[Some of this could possibly be a little altered from the actuality of it, but I was six, so it's hard to remember. It's pretty darn close though.]

November 6, 1986 - When I was six years old and just started Kindergarten, my Mom had a terrible car wreck. She was in a brand new Chevy Cavalier, that she hadn't even made the first payment on, and her tie rod snapped. She flipped down a hill eleven times; coming half-way out of the sun roof somewhere around the seventh flip, as the car flipped over on top of her, breaking her back.

They say she died on the scene twice and was brought back by a wonderful lady. Overall she broke: her back, both kneecaps, her leg, her hip, her arm, her nose and she had a chunk of skull broke loose at the top of her forehead. [The chuck of skull part we didn't find out about until I was around 14, more about that later.] [We also found out sometime later, that it altered her mental state, blinded her in one eye, and she couldn't smell anymore]

My Mom taught me .. Shit happens.

They airlifted her to Memphis TN. She was in the hospital for three months. I was unaware of ANYTHING for the first month and a half. I was shuffled from family member to family member, as my Granny, Papaw, Uncle, and Aunt Vicki was hundreds of miles away at the hospital.

My Mom taught me ... absence makes the heart grow fonder.

After about a month, my Papaw and Aunt Vicki came home to me. But I still didn't know where Mommy was. My aunt Vicki took care of me like I was her own, and she was only 18 years old at the time.

I remember being so frustrated that no one would tell me where my Mom was, I took some scissors and gaped my hair up. It wasn't long after that, they told me a version of what happen. They took me to the hospital to see my Mom, who after months of being in the hospital, still had 2 black eyes. I remember burying my face in Aunt Vicki's shoulder, afraid of what I was about to see.

But she was ALIVE!

My Mom taught me Bravery.

When she got to come home from the hospital, we had to live with my Grandparents because Mom had to wear a back brace and couldn't take care of herself, much less take care of me. We lived there for years I remember.

My Mom taught me about patience ... even though I don't have any. {lol}

Fast forward years later, they found the hole in her head and the piece of skull had slid down and settled into her sinus cavity. She had surgery to repair it on January 14, 1995. They did surgery where they had to peel her face down to get the bone out. Then they placed a metal plate over the hole. I remember feeding her jello at the hospital.

My Mom taught me strength.

Over the years, I moved out of the house away from my Mom several times. As I said before, her mental state had been altered, she was still very smart, but had the competency of a 16 year old. We fought like sisters. I lived with Aunt Vicki for a while, my Grandparents for a while. But I always ended back with my Mom.

My Mom taught me Unconditional Love.