Tender Loving Care (for me)

Without Mom to look after anymore, I felt lost and lonely

by ROBERTA MESSNER, Huntington, West Virginia

I PULLED MY SWEATER tighter around my shoulders as I passed the words painted on my fireplace mantel: “If your heart is cold, my hearth will never warm you.” What it might take to truly warm my heart in time to celebrate the birth of our Lord, I didn’t know. Christmas was coming fast, and I wasn’t ready. Not deep down inside. I turned to fluff the couch cushions but felt too restless to sit for a spell. At the same time, I didn’t have the energy to make a fire. I never hesitated to start one when Mom was here, I thought. But I no longer had her to care for, so what was the use? In the last months of her life with cancer, my mother spent all her weekends…

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The Joys Of Christmas (Digital) - 1 Issue, 2021

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