A Race To The Finish
“I swear I will win this race woman!” I say grudgingly. My mother just laughs it off and exclaims there is no chance. “We will see, I guess. Just know, I will not keep your place for you.” I say trying to shrug it off. Over the years we have both had fun with this joke every time something was to happen. The joke is that I, the son, will die first. Hence, win the race. Everyone that knows us, and this, just laughs it off but I know my mother is slightly worried. She is worried because I am constantly getting injured and even joined the Army. She was proud of me but noticeably worried too. It did not help that I made the joke then also. This joke goes on for years. I wake up in a hospital bed. It is explained to me that I slammed my face into the side of an armored van at over forty miles an hour and not wearing a helmet. It is explained that life will be different now, but I should eventually be able to learn how to redo almost everything. My mother visits in the hospital and I can’t help but do it. “I’m in the lead” I tell her with a big smile. “Joshua, you technically died and was brought back several times” she proceeds to explain. “So, does that mean that I’ve won?” I ask with that smile still on my face. Seeing her face finally crack a smile makes everything better. After years of recovery and returning to a somewhat normal life I receive a call. A slight coughing followed by a deep breath precedes the comment from my mother. “I almost won so now I’m in the lead boy. What are you going to do now?” she asks before explaining what happened. I then learned that my mother had just had multiple heart attacks. Trying to put a smile on both of our faces, I turn to humor. “I guess I need to try harder!” I yell into the phone met with laughter. We proceed to both start going over the past issues we’ve had and how we have pulled through everything. What feels like years pass and I make the statement to her one day, “is this race ever going to finish? I have almost died once and practically died like two or three times and you have almost died a couple. So, did we just pass the turn or are we lapping?”. Through the phone I hear some giggling and it warms my heart but is stopped with silence. Wanting to hear more giggling I tell her “you know I won’t be able to live without my mother, so I HAVE to win. I’ll take you out at the knee if I have to”. This is met by light laughter and an aw. We then exchanged loves before hanging up the phone. My wife smiling and shaking her head looks at me and smiles bigger. “I’ll have to jump in front of a truck if you’re going to keep stopping me from winning.” I tell her in the best stern voice I can without laughing. She giggles more and shakes her head a lot. Six, very short, days later; I receive a call that my mother has passed. Before they can even proceed to explain what had happen, I fell to my knees crying. After a good twenty minutes crying and at seeing how my wife looked, I had to stop. You could hear it in my voice but no longer see it. One thing my mother had taught me was to be strong for your loved ones. The day of service, we are all crying as expected. Wanting to see people enjoying the life they have instead of the other option, I again resort to humor. I begin telling everyone “yeah, that butthead was so afraid of losing that she tripped me and kept going. She’s so mean”. I say all I have to say while audibly choking back my tears. I finish my eulogy with the words, “she did it. She finally won”. Through everyone’s sobbing I swear I could hear a soft chuckling. I couldn’t find who or where, but I could swear I did. Two years go by and I am finally starting to get over losing my mother. I ask one of my dear friends if I would see her when I die or if I would even recognize her. “Oh, most definitely honey. With the love you two had for each other and all you’ve been through; you know our good lord won’t keep you apart.” She explains while hugging me. Smiling for the first time in a while I tell her, “I’ll tell god you said so and no one but my wife is allowed to call me honey.” She chuckles and slaps my shoulder softly. Three more years go by and I break my wife’s heart. My brain quits functioning properly and I pass the most peaceful way possible, in my sleep. I open my eyes as if I’ve woken up to be laying on what can be described as a cloud. I start yelling about what is happening and going on. “I haven’t had that much to drink. I think.” I exclaim giving up and understanding the situation. I hear some familiar laughter and turn to see a shining light. This light turns to an image, an image of my mother. “I Am has given you the image you can understand the best. Yes Joshua, you’ve finished.” She says smiling and walking to me with her arms open. “mom?” I exclaim. “yes, and it is about time you finish the race. I have been waiting at the finish for forever. Come on loser, give your mom a hug.” She says with arms wide and a big smile. “all this time and all you can come up with is calling me a loser. You sound like quite the loser now.” I say as I run into her arms. While hugging her as tight as possible I look up into whatever it would be called and mouth the words of, thank you so much my king.
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