"Mama!" -the wedding story

Michelle and her mother, Betsy Coltharp,
spending a moment together at Michelle’s wedding

My mother being away from home for 73 days before my wedding day was definitely a challenge, but one that we all soon conquered.
David and I had been engaged since December 11, 2002. Everything had been going well until my mother became very ill.
It was actually my father's birthday, May 1, 2003 when Mama had been rushed into the Emergency Room. This was due to some complications she had from diabetes.
I would visit my mother nearly every day after work. I had a routine. I lived in Carrollton, but worked in Irving, the same town my mother had been hospitalized. And not long thereafter, she was placed temporarily in a nursing home in Bedford.
So, I would wake up each weekday around 7am, work from 8:30am-5pm, visit my mom, then eat dinner with my dad, and then drive back, arriving home around 10:30-11pm each night. At one point, I could only visit Mama every other night because I had appointments with various vendors regarding wedding plans on the other nights. David and I would usually both visit my mother together on weekends.
As I grew up, I would always yell out, "Mama!" anytime I got hurt, and to this day, I still do the same. She always was my "healer." My mother has always known the right things to say or do to make me feel better. It was very difficult seeing her ill and not being able to heal her.
I remember the day my father made a phone call from my mom's hospital room to find a pastor to marry David and me. That was my moment of clarity. I realized at that point everything would work out okay somehow, someway.
God blessed my family by allowing my mother to return home only a week before I was to get married.