Violet was the mother of three. She had cancer. She was thirty-six. Her three children were ten, eight and four. They visited their mother every day at the hospital.
Violet’s pain increased. They put her on morphine. She started to slur a little. She started to hallucinate. Her children were frightened of her.
Violet told the doctor she was not to take the morphine. The pain was excruciating. Her children continued to visit. Violet smiled calmly.
Today, Violet’s long dead. Her children are all grown up. How they would like to wind the clock back.
Listen the story being read HERE!
Weave a Web 
But not Violet, she has no regrets.
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I guess not!
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There is a romanticism about motherhood by those who experienced it, but I like your take—as one who doesn’t participate in that romanticism.
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Yes, there is a certain divorce from the diaper reality, the teen reality, the whole shebang reality. I’m too old now to be a mother! – but yesterday I became a Great-Great Uncle with the birth of Noah Goodman. The Goodmans have never believed in hanging around once puberty strikes…. !
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I do tend to the pragmatic where my [now grown up and quite old really] kids are concerned………. 🙂
I’m uncertain if my take on this though is romantic or pragmatic – or just what I think I would have done. From that point of view I would put myself through rather a lot in order not to scare or destroy the faith of my [little] kids.
If this is based on a true story I completely understand why she she made the choice she did and her children should not feel remorseful about their young responses.
What do you think Cynthia?
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I think you are probably like the kind of mother I would have wished, Pauline. Violet was able to do that , much like the natural mother cub, to protect her children. Among humans, many things enter the picture that are not present in the simple instinct of maternal animals, lions or whatever. Some mothers are caught in the hurts of their own upbringing, such that they cannot give themselves to the wisdom that we might want from motherhood.
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Yes, you are so right! I had an extremely damaged mother and the gift she left me with was to make me very conscious with my own children. It was a process that took years and I think I’ve nearly got it right 🙂
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So good, then….so good!
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And maybe Violet’s children will live their whole lives with an unfulfillable wish and a “what if”. So sad….
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Thanks. I’m not sure how it works – but my father on morphine was lucid up to the very end. A friend of mine on it went quite gah-gah a week or so before…
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I guess it depends on the person….my own mother was crawling the walls with it…
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Such a tragic story. Unfortunately too many stories end this way.
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Yes – it is always sad…
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Bravery like this must go unsung everyday. Well done, Bruce!
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Thank you. Yes indeed. I saw a series of photos the other day about a lioness fighting a crocodile to protect her cubs – and I thought of the likes of this mother here…
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I do like the discussions your stories spark, Bruce. Sometimes they’re funny or sad or plain wicked, but they always strike a nerve that strikes a conversation. Thanks.
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Thank you! The commentators deserve the kudos!
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A mother’s love cannot be eradicated by cancer. Violet’s aim was to maintain Hope in her young despite her physical pain. All the things we do and all the things we don’t do affect and shape the behaviors of others.
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Agreed. I knew the mother. One of the sons was my professor of Ethics in the Philosophy Dept. at university.
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Poignant for me, especially as I am staying with Louisa and her daughters, but very touching. (Your Music 56 came up ‘not found’)
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Thanks, Derrick. And regarding the Music 56 – I hit the wrong button and it posted, whereas it was not due until next Wednesday! So I took it off until then 😦
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Very sad, but somehow inspiring. I liked the line that Violet smiled calmly.
In spite of the pain, she smiled calmly. Pretty damned heroic, if you ask me. Giving her children some good memories, memories of their ‘mother’ – not a drugged zombie. What strength of will!
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