For years I had believe it was my mother time to go when she passed away. I was only 7 years old at the time. However, when I was in high school, I found out the truth. My stepmother and father were sitting in the living room with me when we began casually talking about what my mother was like. I have lots of memories of her and me together but I don’t always remember everything. Thankfully, my father and stepmom can tell me more about who she was as a person. That night, I had mention that I never understood why she had to be taken away from me so young. It was just her time to go. That she just wasn’t strong enough to make it through the surgery of placing a feeding tube inside her. That’s when the ugly truth came out. The truth that to this day, still makes my heart ache. I learned that she indeed had survived the surgery, but the nursed failed to check up on her afterwards. She died by “drowning” in her own regurgitation. The nurse’s only had one job to do and they failed. Their failure to check up on my mother a few hours after the surgery cost her life. This poem portrays everything that I learned that night. I understand why I was never told the truth when I was younger. Dealing with her death was hard enough but knowing she had a chance of survival would have made it even harder. Their one mistake cost me the chance of ever having my mother by my side again. I will never get the chance to share any of the special moments in my life with her such as: graduation, prom, my wedding, or even when I become a mother of my own children. Their mistake not only affected my mother’s life but the lives of her daughter and every one she loved. This mistake that can never be undone and I can never bring her back. She will forever be in my heart! One day we will meet again, and I hope that I have made you so proud of everything I have accomplished.

Pale white walls,

The bland uniforms on familiar faces,

The awful smell luring about the place,

It was a home like no other,

A home for mommy as she was sick,

Entering as a stunning women,

Left as a fragile little girl,

Helpless as I was I tried to keep her smiling,

Movies, Ice cream, drawing, and talking was all we did,

Her pain showed on her face,

Thinner and thinner she got,

The more helpless I became,

Devastated I lost her,

I believed it was time for her to go,

But in reality,

It was not,

She could have survived,

If only the nurses had done their job,

The pain,

The tears,

The sleepless nights,

All because the nurses did not follow through,

I miss her,

I love her,

But I can’t bring her back,

It was not her time and only if she were here.