She broke her leg - a compound fracture - in February. While in the hospital, she had a heart attack. She went home with hospice care provided by the state of Texas, winding up in the hospital one more time with a massive infection at the site of her wound. She came home again a few weeks ago, with the realization hitting all of us that she was just getting too tired to dodge fate's wicked curveballs any longer.

I can't say I welcomed the task my mother assigned to me. I've been so swamped with work, and I was afraid this would take more out of me emotionally than I have to give right now. But I know in my heart I was the right person to write it.

I managed to put off actually putting anyting down on paper (or on the computer) until tonight. My mother called to let me know that it wouldn't be much longer, and I knew I needed some presence of mind to do this. In spite of reconciling myself to the cruelties of age and disease on Mama Lee and convincing myself that I had processed "things" in my mind, this really sucks.

No snippy comments, no lame attempts at wit here. It just sucks.