Day 15 – 2018 AWAC

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The 2018 August Write Away Challenge

If you’re just joining us, please feel free to go back and read the previous content so you’re up to speed! Otherwise, scroll down for today’s prompt.

• 2018 August Write Away Challenge original post
• Day 1 – What book did you read over and over again as a child?
• Day 2 – Some of the things that make me happy are…
• Day 3 – Name three things you’d do if you weren’t so afraid.
• Day 4 – How easy is it for you to forgive those who have caused you pain?
• Day 5 – What are your best character traits?
• Day 6 – What grand adventure do you wish you could go on?
• Day 7 – Dear past me…
• Day 8 – If you could meet any fictional character, who would it be?
• Day 9 – Your favorite movies.
• Day 10 – Did you ever run away from home?
• Day 11 – How do you indulge yourself? Do you need to indulge yourself more often?
• Day 12 – As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
• Day 13 – What would you do if money was no object?
• Day 14 – What one thing caught you off guard this week?

Keep scrolling down for today’s prompt!

Reminders before we get started:

• The prompt is to use or ignore as you wish;
• Absolutely any form of the written word is allowed;
• All participation will be on the honor system, though sharing is strongly encouraged;
• Participants will be asked to let me know each week that they’ve written daily;
• Those who do write daily for the week will have their name entered into a drawing at the end of the month for a $25 Amazon Gift Card;
• Any blogger who participates and writes every day for the month will receive a badge for your blog.
• Please send me an email or contact me to let me know you’re participating!

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Wed, Aug. 15 – The most terrifying moment of my life was…

One evening in December, in the midst of a medical trauma we had yet to make any sense of, my mother held my hand and told me she was dying. She reached for my brother’s hand, who was also with us, and made him promise to look after me.

The weeks leading up to that moment were something of a Copper Country type snowfall. I was lost. I was afraid. I was overwhelmed. I was uncertain. I could find neither my footing nor my bearings. Except for the severe gravity which held me pancaked to the ground, I felt I had been thrust into space and I just continued in constant hurl until all motion was static. I yearned for the edge of  space, knowing I would never reach it.

We learned the following night that mom was in severe acute kidney failure. If we had waited another day, it is very probable we would have lost her. I’ll never forget the look on the doctor’s face when he told us that it was a miracle mom was even alert and responsive, that he had only ever seen numbers like this on patients who were comatose.

The reality shattered my defenses. My mother, who had told me the previous day that she thought she was dying, teetered on the brink of death. That knowledge terrified me. It wasn’t the concept of death that terrified me. It wasn’t even the actual fear of her dying.

It was the realization that there were so many things we hadn’t done yet, so many things we hadn’t talked about, so many experiences we hadn’t shared.

It was the realization that nobody is ever ready to lose their mother.

It was the realization that, for whatever reason, God had given me more time with her.

It was the realization that life truly is short and tomorrows truly are unpromised.

It was the realization that I had wasted so much time — not only with her, but with all of those people close to me… and some people less close to me (because I have wasted time and it has distanced us from one another).

Writing is important. Writing about your mother is important — preserve her stories and her voice with your words. But writing is an art, a way to express something about the life; to do that, you must live.

Call, visit, or write a letter to your mother today. Tell her how much she means to you.

From the shores of Wicket Lake,