My Mother: The Life and Times of an Angel

By Larry Winston

The author "Larry Winston" dedicated a book entitled "Yes Sir" to his father soon after his fathers passing. Larry promised his mother
he`d write one honoring her as well. He asked her if she had a title in mind, without missing a beat his mother replied "My Mother", hence the title "My Mother".

The book celebrates the life and times of Larry and his eight siblings mother.

The book shares memories, both light hearted and heart wrenching of the daily struggles and triumphs of a wife and mother of eight. This is not a novel, nor is it a memoir, it`s simply a compilation of stories and feelings the author has for his very own angel on Earth, before she was ultimately blessed with her very own wings. Of course most people will shout from the roof tops, their mothers were saints, or angels, but in this authors sometimes devilish way, he makes a valid point.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781664125513

Larry Winston

The author Larry Winston was born and raised in the Homewood and Wilkinsburg areas of Pittsburgh Pa. Larry showed an aptitude for writing in High School but never pursued it, He didn`t write his first poem until he was well into his fifties, soon after the death of his father. He shared the first poem he wrote in this book, along with a few others. Several years later wrote a moving and at times hilarious book in tribute to his father entitled “Yes Sir”. Larry has a dry sense of humor, which is obvious in his writing.

Book preview

Copyright © 2020 by Larry Winston.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 09/10/2020

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

817711

CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Prologue

Chapter 1 My Mother

Chapter 2 Mom And The Dragon Slayer

Chapter 3 I wasn’t this old yesterday

Chapter 4 The Balancing Act

Chapter 5 A House Is Not A Home

Chapter 6 Mom Introduced Me to Myself

Chapter 7 Advive: to Give Or Not To Give

Chapter 8 The Nursing Home

Chapter 9 All Good Things Must come To An End

Chapter 10 Life Will Never be The Same

Chapter 11 Life Today

Poems

Family Gallery

DEDICATION

I want to dedicate this book to my late Mother, Mary Louise Jones-Winston, my late Dad Edward Winston Sr……. and my brothers and sisters respectively: Edward Junior, Paul, Celeste, Josephine, Mark, Donna, Timothy, and Kimberly.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful for the support of my brothers and sisters, which made it possible for me to share a portion of our life with Mom.

Along with my brothers and sisters I would also like to acknowledge our entire family- sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, cousins and in-laws which are sadly too many to individually name.

I hope this book brings a smile to all who read it.

PROLOGUE

With a heavy heart and a beaten down spirit, I slowly walked into the nursing home where my mom now resided. After signing in at the front desk, I meekly pushed the up button on the elevator, and began to get into character. I had to appear happy, and upbeat, in other words when the elevator door opened to my mother’s floor, my face had to display that of a son who had no doubt in his mind that his mom would get well and come back home to her loving family soon. This visit though in some ways similar to the many other visits we had over the months, felt different this time. I don’t know if it was the weakness in Mom’s voice when I said; "Hi Mom how are you feeling, and did you get a good night’s sleep", or if it was just my coming to the realization that Mom was declining rapidly. I brought her the usual goodies (fruit, candy, a burger and her favorite pop (Vanilla Cherry Pepsi), which I knew she would not have an appetite for, but would appreciate non-the less. I would have the nurses assistant put the items in the refrigerator on Mom’s floor, with instructions to my sister Celeste to take them home in a day or so and enjoy, with Mom being none the wiser about it. I’d always ask Mom; what did she want the next day, and she’d rattle off what she had a taste for, sometimes nothing, and sometimes a pretty hefty list. I knew that the next day she wouldn’t want any, but it made me feel good to ask and deliver, and it made Mom feel good to be asked and catered to. I considered that a win-win for both of us. As I was saying, this particular day didn’t seem like the others. Mom would drift in and out of sleep, and awaken for a moment, look in my direction, and nod back off. I sat there quietly, splitting my time between watching Wheel of fortune on TV, and trying to catch Mom when she briefly opened her eyes. I was sad, and could feel my face fill with tears, waiting for orders to come out of my eyes and drench my shirt with the residue of my pain. Thank God for Mom’s sake the tears never made it to my eager tear ducts,