Mitzi has really been missing her Mom lately, especially with all of the talk of the impending Mother’s Day holiday. Mitzi looks a lot like her Mom and people often remark (usually after bursting into tears) over how strong the resemblance is. Her mother passed away in 2015, not too terribly long after Mitzi’s official diagnosis. I have often wondered what it was like for her mother to receive news like that.
In an odd sequence of events that only God could have orchestrated, I was incredibly blessed to be sitting on the sidelines the night her Mom went to Heaven. She had been in a coma and we had streaming radio playing…all different songs and genres. I will never forget (seems ironic to say that in an Alzheimer’s blog, but it was tremendously poignant) that Chris Tomlin’s song, “Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone” was playing. Just at the part of the song when he sings, “My chains are gone; I’ve been set free,” I looked up and the machines showed only question marks as they no longer registered a pulse. I hadn’t known Mitzi very long at that point. But I was there at that moment in time when she lost her Mom, and somehow, I don’t think that was an accident. Even though it would be another year and a half before Mitzi’s life would weave itself into mine as it has, I think being witness to those precious last moments was part of a bigger picture plan I couldn’t possibly have seen in the works at that time.
As I said, this past week Mitzi’s Mom has been heavy on her heart. So it was such a wonderful gift for her to be asked to lunch by the daughter of one of her mother’s dear friends (who also passed in 2015) on the Friday before Mother’s Day. That sweet friend told Mitzi she just had this overwhelming urge to spend some time with her and she knew it was because their moms were up in Heaven encouraging it. Mitzi’s tears gave way to a genuine smile when she heard this. Sitting back and watching these two daughters converse was such a beautiful reminder that God knows what and who we need and when…
