The sound of the ice maker was the only thing heard throughout the house for weeks. My mom ate cups and cups of ice and became very lethargic, not acting herself at all. That summer opened my eyes to a lot that I never realized before.

I remember getting a call at home it was my daddy. “Your mom is being taken to the hospital.” Tears ran down my face and my heart sunk into my stomach. She was in the hospital for a week. High blood pressure and low hemoglobin; she was anemic. They had to give her blood transfusions and several chest x-rays were taken. When the results came back, boy we were in for a surprise.

My mom had a tumor on her lung. This one thing opened my eyes to so much. I needed to stop taking things for granted because I could lose anything, at anytime, with the blink of an eye. At fourteen years old I could lose my mother.

We got the best news in the world the tumor wasn’t cancerous. But, if it wasn’t removed the pest would keep growing and growing and wouldn’t be good. She did start to get a dip in her side where her ribs were. Her whole side was caved in. The doctors told us we could wait to have the surgery done, just to make sure mama came in to make sure the tumor wasn’t getting any bigger. Our family decided as a whole that if my mom thought it was best we should wait for her surgery. We did wait, a whole year.

Before her surgery I tried my hardest to be on my best behavior but sometimes we didn’t see eye to eye. My mom and I fought a lot because I tended to not say thank you for the things she did for me. I took everything she did for me for granted and this would cause us to fight. Sometimes when we would fight she told me I would be the death of her because I made her blood pressure shoot sky high. She used to scream and cry at me and sometimes with me. But, in my eyes my mom was the strongest woman alive.

On facebook I had posted something about my mom’s surgery and to ask for prayers from everybody. There was a rumor started that I was making the whole story up. I was furious only a sick minded weirdo would make something like this up about their mom. Talking to my mom about it made everything better though. She told me that she loved me aandnot to listen to anything anyone said because we knew the truth. During that conversation she told me she was ready to have the tumor removed. I was honestly petrified.

Summer of my ninth grade year my mom had her tumor removed. I remember feeling like I was going to throw up my heart I was so nervous. The nasty smell of the hospital and the horrible mint green walls are still plastered in my mind. My dad, brother, and I stayed at the hospital every day with my mom. A conversation that my mom and I had in the hospital has stuck with me until this day.

She was explaining to me how they removed the tumor and everything. To get the tumor off they had to remove one of her ribs and then start scraping the tumor off. She looked at me and she said “Baby, you should never take things for granted. I could be dead right now and then what would you do?” I was amazed at her words and how strong she was. Laying there with a smile on her face, even though she was in loads of pain. Tubes running in her body draining all the extra blood and fluids from her but still she only had positive things to say.

It’s amazing how that one disaster and one conversation opened my eyes to a wonder of things. After that conversation with my mom any single thing she did for me I said thank you. She taught me that people or things are not always going to be around so appreciate them while you have them or regret it when they’re gone.