My mother has been in hospitals (yes, plural) for months. I visited once but my parents live in Florida. My mother has been close to death but seems to miraculously rally repeatedly. She is not ready to die.

In the last week, I only got to talk to my mom once before today and that time was yesterday morning. Yesterday, she was trying to call my father but dialed me instead. I had the chance to tell her I loved her before I called my father and told him to call her. My mother has trouble making a phone call because her hands are extremely gnarled and crippled by rheumatoid arthritis.

This week, the medical staff weaned her off the morphine and switched her pain medication to percocet. When my mother answered the phone tonight I asked her how she was doing and she told me, "I'm sitting on my backside and putting on my socks. That's what I'm doing."

My mother has most of her left leg amputated along with many other serious ailments that prevent her from putting on her socks. She hasn't been able to put on her socks for years because she has severe rheumatoid arthritis. Now she only has one leg and that leg's foot has a horrible bed sore.

I didn't have a chance to tell my mother that I loved her because the nurse whisked the phone away from her and handed the phone to my father. I didn't even get to say goodbye to her. Everytime I get off the phone with my mother, I wonder if that time will be the last time I'll ever talk with her.

How strangely sad yet laughable will life be if the last words from my mother to me are, "I'm sitting on my backside and putting on my socks. That's what I'm doing."