The Most Important Summer

What does summer mean to you?  

What childhood memories come to mind when you think of the word "summer"?  For me it brings back so many memories.  No school, no homework, all fun.  Riding bicycles down to the corner, playing in the pool, rainbows, and spending time with friends and cousins.

From the time I first started school to the end of Elementary School, summer was all fun and games.  It was where true happiness was found.  When my brother and I weren't at a daycare center, we enjoyed our time at our Aunt's house, then our own home.
But for me summer doesn't only bring back happy memories.  There was a summer many years ago that will never leave my mind or my heart.  Eighteen years ago this month to be exact.

It was the summer of 1994.  When most kids should be out playing and basking in the joys of summer, I had to learn to grow up really fast.  I didn't realize it at that time, but this would be the most important summer of my entire life.  I started out attending a Summer Camp at my Elementary School where I had a pet snail, but was pulled out quickly.

You see, my mother was sick.

Very sick.

It took a while for anyone to tell us the truth.  Our mother just didn't want us to know.  I'm not sure if she was in denial, or if it was just a mother's continuing desire to protect her children from the bad in the world.  We watched as she lost her hair.  A hospital bed was brought into my brother's room, he was moved into mine.  She got to where she needed help walking, or doing anything really.  She had her special chair she sat in.  Her cane she walked with.  A wheelchair.  The wigs she hated so much.  She had many dreams of when she got better: eating pizza, going to Disney, etc...

I remember climbing into her hospital bed with her, with the rails up so I wouldn't fall out.  I had a Barbie coloring book and she would color one page while I colored the other.
Yes we played outside and I even had a chance to go to a movie theater with a friend from school.  We saw the Lion King.  I ended up seeing it TWICE that week!  But the truth is I spent as much of that summer with her as I could. 
School ended in June (I believe), I turned 11 in June.  My mother passed away July 11, 1994. 
Our summer was cut short.  Everything after that is a complete blur.  One minute it was July 11th and the next school was starting again.  My dad took us on a vacation to Disney and to the beach and I do remember that, but the entire trip is hazy.  We took this trip for her.

I live my life trying my hardest to give my children EVERY opportunity I possibly can.  I know it's not much.  But I take them everywhere and spend every weekend with them.  I am constantly looking for a way I can make it even better.  We never know how much time we have with our loved ones. My hope is that when they think back on "Summers with Mom", they will feel the warmth that I feel when I think of mine. 

She had melanoma.......skin cancer.  

Please, Dear Readers, wear sunblock any time you are outside!  This doesn't mean just at the beach.  

This means ANY time you are exposed to the sun!  

Driving with our arm outside the car window, going to the park, going on a walk, the sun is ALWAYS there! 

We may not be able to reverse the damage that has already been done, but we can try to prevent any further damage!!  

 Don't forget your feet too!