This is a remembrance of Mama (written at the blog I created for the memoir I wrote about our family), who would have been 85 today. She fought with strength, dignity, and bravely in all the journeys of her life – including vascular dementia, Lewy Body dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease, and congestive heart failure – and left an example showing us, her kids and grandkids, how to walk and endure our own journeys. Miss my mama and love her dearly. ♥
Eighty-five years ago today, about nine months before the Great Depression began, in Flag Pond, Tennessee, Muriel Foster Ross – my mama – was born to Samuel and Ennis Foster.
A doctor and both grandmothers were there attending the long and arduous birth that was taking a fatal toll on Mama’s mother and led the doctor, upon delivery, to dismissively say “that baby’s going to die” as he handed an underweight and frail Mama to her paternal grandmother, Grandma Foster, and turned his attention to trying to save Ennis Foster’s life.
Grandma Foster countered, “This baby’s going to live!,” and put Mama in the warming bin of the oven in the kitchen – a primitive incubator. Grandma Foster hovered over Mama through that afternoon and night, feeding her and wrapping her up in fresh towels every few hours.
By the next morning, Mama was stronger, had color, and it was…
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Going Gentle Into That Good Night 