Momma

My Mother has always been one of the coolest people I know,speaking of her ,not of amother but as a person ,this is a woman that has been around.During world war 2 she worked for the army,then the "League of nations"then the UN.
her father was a mechanic,she worked with him in his garage as a kid and knows everything about the internal combustion engineShe was flying planes when she was in her teens and that was in the 1930's,she has always read 3to 4 books a week,and gave me my love for cooking and experimenting with new cuisines,and ingrediants.
When she lived in Israel,already in her sixties,she would get up at three am get on her 3 wheeler,peddle 4 miles to the medditeranian sea,have her morning swim,pedal back,shower then get on the bus,and go to a full time job.
When I was a kid we lived directly on the beach,my mother would swim so far out,you could barely see this dot bobbing up and down on the waves,I would cry and scream for her to come back,I was so scared.
She always had vegetable,and amazing flower gardens,and she worked a full time job administering a Catholic childrens charity until she was 79 years old.
Now she is 85.Up until 6months ago,she was able to walk up to ten city blocks with her walker.Now she can only walk from chair to chair and can only get out when I take her in her wheel chair.
She somehow takes it mainly in stride,she is no longer capable of even making a cup of tea.
This is extremely hard for me to wach.
I have been taking care of my mother for the last three months and its hard to see this giant in my life my Momma the person who has been a constant source of support and love and sympathy,(c'mon,who loves you like your momma)
I really don't get it ,at the end of life all you have left is your memories,if your blessed enough to retain them and not wind up drooling and defecating on yourself in a nursing home.I just don't get it.Legacy shmegacy its very hard not to be cynical about the whole thing.