Kathi Davis, Happy Mother's Day



My mom and me

Me and Mom doing Relay for Life when I was 16.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers in my life, relatives and friends! This day makes me think of the main person I am doing the 3-Day walk for, my mom, Kathi Davis. My mom has four children including myself. A house full of four children and one bathroom can really stress a mom out! My mom always did the best she could with what she had. Both of my parents didn't get home until about six every night so we did a lot on our own but we never went without anything that we needed. I get a lot of the qualities I have from my mom. She is a very hard worker and totally dives in to her work. There were times when my mother would bring some work home. Doing that allowed her to spend time with us as well as get some work done. I do the same thing with my work. One of the things that neither one of us is good at is delegating. We both have a hard time letting anyone else do anything because we know it will be done right if we do it ourselves. My mom also allowed us to have a lot of independence. When we came home with homework, we were responsible for doing our homework and studying for tests and bringing the required items to school the next day. If we asked for help it was given but other than that we were on our own. I try to do the same thing with my kids. I appreciate the fact that my mom did that. Since I work at a school, I see a lot of children that have absolutely no responsibility when they are younger and once they hit high school it is a nightmare! I could probably go on and on.



Mom and me during my bridal portraits

When I got engaged, my mom was very happy for me. She was however, disappointed that Danny and I would not be getting married in the Catholic church. But, she went with me all over Huntsville to find a place to have our wedding. Getting married was one of the happiest days of my life. We got married in October and everything was great! In January, we found out we were going to have a baby and everything was really great! A couple of months after that, my mom let us know that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. It felt like the world stood still. I didn't know how to respond. I think it really didn't sink in for awhile. Whether I was ready or not, it was coming.


Me, my mom, my sisters and my niece at my baby shower

I didn't have much of a reaction for awhile. I knew that she had breast cancer but I wasn't around it. I wasn't there to go to treatments or doctor appointments. I wasn't there when she lost her hair or picked out her wig. Not to sound selfish but I had a lot going on in my life about two hours away. I was a newlywed expecting a baby in September. I did call a lot to find out how things were going but I really was sort of removed from the whole situation. The first time I really had anything really affect me was when friends of my moms threw a baby shower for me. The doctors didn't think it was a good idea for her to attend the shower. She was very susceptible to germs and they didn't want her to get sick. She promised she would wear a mask. So, to make her feel better, we all wore maskes. We even tried to decorate them. It was a nice laugh in the middle of such a hard situation.

My mom with Mindy. She will hate me for using this pic.

As the due date got closer, the doctor told her it wouldn't be in her best interest to come to the hospital when I had the baby. I was so upset. When you have a baby, your parents are supposed to come and be the first to see! what was I going to do? My mom didn't listen, my sister managed to get her in and out pretty fast. I was so glad that she was the first one to see Mindy.

My mom was responding well to treatments and before long she was cleared. she has been a survivor for over 7 years. I don't know what we would have done if she hadn't made it. She has tried her best to always help all of us. My older sister and brother live within 15 minutes of her and she has helped them through many things over these last 7 years, good and bad. My younger sister was able to have her at her college graduation. I, personally, don't know what I would have done without her when Mason was born. She came to stay with us for a week and a few days later I called her and cried and said I needed her to come back. I was suffering from post partum depression and couldn't take care of my family. She immediately came to our aid and stayed for another week.



My mom with Mindy. My mom's hair grew back in very curly.

I am lucky. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and survived. I am able to call her and say "Happy Mother's Day!". There are a lot of daughters, sons and husbands who no longer have the opportunity to do that same thing because their mother/wife lost the battle.
My mom and I don't always see eye to eye. In fact, a lot of the time we don't but she is an extremely important part of my life and the life of my family. I love you, Mom! Happy Mother's Day!