Honor Thy Mother
Exodus 20:12 ““Honor your father and your mother, that your
days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”
Last night at 10:26 PM my mother, Phyllis Newsom, breathed
her last. She spent her last day on this earth surrounded by her sister, myself
and my sister, and all her grandkids. It was loud, and there was laughter. Sam
read to us about Sharks from a new book he had gotten. We found out about the
Lemon Shark which is named so because it is yellow. We prayed with her multiple
times. We all finally went home around 9 to put the kids to bed. My Aunt Melba
(her sister) was going to stay the night. About an hour later I got the call I
had been anticipating/worrying over for over 7 years. When me and Angie got
back to RNC we were met by mom’s nurse, he let us know that mom had passed. We
went into the room and hugged, and cried, and hugged momma, and cried, and
prayed, and shares stories and laughed and cried some more.
Soon the funeral home came and got her and we got back to the
house a little after midnight. There was not much sleep for any us. There will
be time for that later. Now my mom has found peace and has been reunited with
those loved ones she had lost along the way.
As the news spread about mom’s passing many of you have
called, texted, emailed and visited. I appreciate and cherish every single one
of those. I apologize if I have not yet replied to you directly, it’s not from
a lack of effort.
The Funeral will be this Saturday at Antioch. The visitation
will be at 10AM, the Service will be at 11AM. There will then be a graveside
service in Norlina, NC at 2PM.
There’s so much I could write and say both good and bad,
funny and tragic. However, now is not the time for any of that. In my mind I
keep coming back to this one moment, one lovely day, I had with her when I was
in 6th grade. My parents got divorced in the fall of 5th
grade. This was the spring of 6th grade. In 5th grade I
had developed a love of baseball. In 6th grade mom took me out of a
day that was just me and her. My sister was at the baby sitters. We went to a
baseball card shop / convenience store / bait shop out in Caswell County
somewhere (bear with me I’m trying to recall something from 1990) where Person
County Native and Baseball Hall of Famer, Enos Slaughter, was doing an
autograph signing and talking to fans. Mom had become friends with Enos while
working as a teller at the bank. I remembered him chatting with me for quite a
while sharing baseball stories. He signed a card, a ball and a picture of
himself sliding into home when he won the world series.
Then mom took me to Northgate mall. There at Babbages (which
was where you bought video games in 1990) there stood a shiny new copy of
Double Dragon II. I looked at it, but new it was expensive ($80) and that games
were for Birthdays and Christmas. Mom looked at me and said “Do you like that
game?” “Yes!” I said enthusiastically, “Well let’s buy it” she said. I was
overjoyed! When we got home I played that game the rest of the weekend! It’s
still one of my favorite games to this day.
As I got older I realized how much of a financial sacrifice
she made purchasing that game for me. She really didn’t have the money to do
so. One thing can be said about mom, she never hesitated to sacrifice for
myself or my sister, not only for what we needed but for what we wanted as
well.
Rest in Peace Mom, we love you and miss you already!
Glen & Angie
