I had been preparing for this day for six years\u2026  six long years in which so much had changed\u2026 Yet\u2026. to look at my mother, she still looked beautiful.  She still seemed healthy.   She was still smiling and appeared hopeful.  Yet this thief\u2026. had already taken so much\u2026. what more could he, or would he take?  How much would he steal from her life and her family’s life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in talking to the stranger, also known as a “neurologist”,\u2026. he asked about my mother’s everyday life.\u00a0 I told him she does word puzzles and watches Wheel of Fortune on TV.\u00a0 We go for long walks and talk about the beauty of nature. We go to church and read the Word. We watch for deer as we drive through our neighborhood.\u00a0 We have family meals and go out to eat in restaurants.\u00a0 We shop for deals at the local thrift store.\u00a0 And this stranger who became a friend that day said something I’ll never forget.\u00a0 He said, “Keep doing!\u00a0 The doing is more important than the remembering.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hung onto those words\u2026.  and I realized something else that day.  I realized that I had a choice to make. I could choose to give up and stop living\u2026. OR I could embrace these words and keep doing, keep living, and even though my mother couldn’t remember, I could remember.  I could make new memories with my mother that I would remember, and she could “keep doing!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of driving back home in misery and sadness, I decided to embrace the time with my mother.  As we drove south on I-65, I turned the radio to a contemporary Christian radio station.  I sang the words out loud!  The words had renewed meaning in my life.  I wasn’t just singing. It was a heart cry of praise to the Lord.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And you know what else I did\u2026.  I took the exit at Clanton, Alabama, and pulled the car into Peach Park<\/a>.  Yes, we were going to have us a Peach Cobbler with ice cream on top! And you know something\u2026. it was the best Peach Cobbler with ice cream that I have ever eaten!  And I believe it was the best Peach Cobbler that my mother has ever eaten – even if she doesn’t remember.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SAMPLING THE SOUTH<\/strong>\u2026. it’s not just for the good days!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was a day I had dreaded for the past six years.  Let me back up a little\u2026  six years ago I was in a waiting room in Mobile, Alabama with my father while my mother was having cataract surgery\u2026. He shared with me something that he had been keeping a secret\u2026  He confided that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"WB4WB4WP_MODE":"","WB4WP_PAGE_SCRIPTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_STYLES":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FONTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_HEADER":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FOOTER":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[21,57,56,183,55,187,188],"class_list":["post-673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-birmingham","tag-cavin-cawthon","tag-charlotte-cawthon","tag-june-martin","tag-restaurant-blog","tag-uab","tag-uab-neurology"],"yoast_head":"\n