The End of an Era

 

It's the end of an era.

When I joined the Air Force in 1975 I was lucky enough to be stationed at Seymour Johnson AFB which was only 62 miles away from where I lived in Raleigh, so for the next 3 1/2 years I spent every three day break and every leave at home visiting my parents, family and friends. I went to Korea for a year in '79 but came right back to SJAFB, doing it all over again until 1982 when I went to Lackland AFB for MTI duty. My parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee shortly after that, and for the 4 years I was in Texas they visited me twice and I went to visit them once.

In 1986 I got stationed at Whiteman AFB, Missouri and was pretty thrilled about it because I would be closer to my folks in Tennessee and could visit them more often; but then my father got transferred back to North Carolina, specifically to Cary, so there was only one visit during the 3 years I was at Whiteman, that being when my parents came to visit us the winter I was first stationed there. Then it was off to Korea again for a year, then to Virginia and Langley AFB.

For the next 8 years I made the 3 1/2 hour drive down to Cary to visit my parents and my sisters, both of whom had settled in North Carolina. When I retired from the Air Force and moved to New Jersey to be with Gina, I made three trips down to see them and they made two trips up to NJ to see me. When Gina and I relocated to Lexington, South Carolina in 2006 I found myself once more only 3 1/2 hours away, so from 2006 until 2021 I made the trip up to see them and my sisters once a month.

To say my life revolved around my parents wouldn't be completely incorrect. They were a huge part of my life, and I was lucky enough to enjoy this for two thirds of my life.

All of that changed when my father passed away in 2021. I still went up to North Carolina to visit my mom and my sister Dorothy once a month, but as good as it was to see my mom it just wasn't the same without Pop being there. When my mom sold the house she and my father had bought in 1986 when they moved to Cary from Memphis and went into an assisted living facility in 2021 that cut my visits down considerably, and near the end my mom's health was bad enough to where I wasn't able to visit her as much as I would have liked.

And then on January 25th, 2024 all of this came to an end when my mom passed away at the age of 92. I went up to see her one last time in the hospital three days before she passed, and even though she was sleeping during my visit I know she knew I was there. She had been unresponsive for the past several days, but when I reached under the covers and held her hand she moved her hand, and when I kissed her on the forehead she moved her head. So yeah, she knew I was there.

But when I drove home that afternoon I did so know that I had just seen my mother alive for the last time.

So now it's over. My visits to North Carolina to see my parents, something I've done continually for the past 49 years, have come to an end.

It is truly the end of an era.

And I'm not quite sure how to handle it. I'll figure it out, I'm sure, but right now I just feel kind of lost.

I love you, Mom and Pop, and I miss you.

Deo Vindice

IHC