Page 43 - ThreeGiftsForFlipBook

and Sam had hot homemade rolls. Justin’s dad invited them to stay but they felt the family should be alone. Justin thought about how his family sat around the table visiting. He thought about how so many times it was all his mother could do to get everyone together around the same table, but that day no one wanted to leave. He remembered feeling how he would give anything to have some of those times back and he’d be a little less hurried. No one even mentioned the cancer that weighed so heavily on everyone’s mind. It was as if by not talking about it it somehow didn’t exist. She died the day after Christmas. She seemed to know it was time for her to go. She had called Justin to her. She told him she loved him and gave him a big hug, even though it took all the strength she had left just to lift her arms. That was the one time he could remember really hugging her back since he had been small. Teenagers just don’t do that, but somehow at that point, being cool didn’t matter. He brushed the hair back from her face and told her he loved her too. He kissed her on the cheek and she smiled. The next morning she was gone. His mother, who had always been there for him, was gone. She had never missed one of his games from the time he started Little League. She had never missed a school program or 38