**I originally posted this on July 24, 2011.
Strength. Grace. Love. Boldness. Kind. Beautiful. Loving. Undeniable. These are some of only a few adjectives I would use to describe my mom. I look at her in awe. My mom was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2005, at 39 years old. It was a reality check that I could have lived without. Laughing through the pain is the only way we made it through some days.

“I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me.  They have clung to me all my life.” -Abraham Lincoln

“Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible.” –Marion C. Garretty

Laughing Through The Pain

The last 6 years have had their ups and downs, but she handles herself with grace and strength like no other. We have been able to get through the past 6 years because we stick together as a family and we laugh. My mom reminds me every day that without humor self-pity would set in and she can’t allow that. We laugh so we don’t cry. We laugh to create memories that neither of us will ever forget. She taught me that laughter and love heal all because when she laughs for those few precious moments she forgets about the constant pain.

I have to share a few of the humorous moments that this disease has brought into our lives. One I will never forget. It was right after she had gotten out of the hospital after being diagnosed. They had given her some very strong pain medicine and boy was she a blast to watch! I would call her every day to check on her, multiple times usually.

I See The Light

One day I reached her and I could tell she was in a drug haze. I asked her how she was doing and she ever so calmly says to me, “Lana, the Indians are coming.” It was a rare moment in my life, where I found myself speechless! How do you respond to the “Indians are coming”? So me being the smart-ass that I am replied, “Want me to bring the cowboys or the cavalry, which do you prefer in this situation?”

Seriously, what do you say to your 39-year-old mother when she tells you that the “Indians are coming.” Just when I thought this conversation couldn’t get any better, this happens….

“Lana, the light. I see the light.”

“Oh crap, mom DO NOT GO TOWARDS THE LIGHT!!! Turn around! Turn around!”

Needless to say, I rushed my butt to the house that day. I did not come without backup….chocolate milkshake and cookies. We spent the afternoon watching movies and enjoying our snacks. Life brings you moments and you have to decide to take advantage of them and make them into memories. This day will forever be remembered.

It’s The MS!

Something else that has become a joke around my family, is the “don’t worry, I’m not crazy. I just have MS!” Or the fact that we got so tired of hearing mom say “it’s the MS,” when she had something go wrong so now we all use it.

Landon forgot to take out the trash. “It’s the MS.”

When Dad forgot to get something out to thaw for dinner. “It’s the MS.”

When I, not living at home, burn my cookies across town. “It’s the damn MS!”                                                 

“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31