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Posted 2/10/21

‘I was just thinking about you’ I made my last phone call about a week ago to my mother. She always answered the phone the same way: “I was just thinking about you!” I know she probably …

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‘I was just thinking about you’

I made my last phone call about a week ago to my mother.

She always answered the phone the same way: “I was just thinking about you!”

I know she probably answered a lot of phone calls that way, because that’s the kind of person she was. She was always thinking of other people: her husband, kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, friends.

Mary McLoone passed away last Thursday. Her work has now turned from thinking about us to watching over us.

She made it to 91, and that’s a blessing few are gifted. Our dad passed away last April at the same age. She missed him so we take solace in the fact that they’re together again. He’s probably sitting in his recliner. She’s in her chair with her book. One of them wants the TV too loud. One of them wants it too quiet. Those were the good old days.

There were eight kids in our family, so being mom was a chore. She cooked three meals a day, seven days a week. She helped out at the family business I think just to keep her sanity, with all those kids around the house. She penned a cooking column every week for their newspaper and read proof.

She started everyday on the couch reading prayer verses. She attended Mass as often as she could, and her prayers have gotten all of us through a lot. She used to be a lector at her Catholic church, and she put everything into every reading. That’s the way she did things.

She came from a close family and raised one of her own, coordinating everyone’s schedules and shuttling us where we needed to be. She would act as the go-between if one was needed in a ‘negotiation” with my father.

She was born to be a grandmother. She kept constant tabs on those grandkids, and now great-grandkids too. Every single one of them had a special connection with her.

We’re all going to miss her. It’s been a rough year. The pandemic kept us from visiting her, and I hadn’t seen her in months. That’s why those phone calls meant so much.

Her loss is going to leave a big void in a lot of lives. It’s good to know she’s still going to be keeping tabs on us all.