Hello, I’m Neil Morales and Julia Morales is my mother. I just learned that she wants to stop all treatment for lung cancer. I get it but, I don’t want to get it. I understand that my mom is tired and has been fighting this battle for 4 years but I can’t think of losing her right now. I am only 42 and I really wanted to enjoy mom’s retirement years. She’s all I have.
My father left us when I was little and I resent him to this day for what he did. “Just don’t want to be married anymore,” he told me. At that young age I could barely grasp the emotion attached to those words. Thank God for my mom. It took time but she put the pieces of our lives back together and raised me all on her own without any support from my dad. She worked so hard. Another reason why I resent him. I am the successful man I am today because of my mom’s example of strength and endurance.
When I was 17, mom met Lucy. Don’t get me wrong, I like Lucy but she’s not family. I was pretty independent at 17 and moved away to go to college right after high school. Imagine my surprise when I came home to find Lucy living in our home and my mother in a lesbian relationship. Over the years I have come to accept Lucy as my mother’s partner and I suppose I like her well enough. She makes mom happy and has been a faithful partner. That’s what matters most. I admit that I do care about her, I just don’t want to be responsible for her well-being when my mother is gone. You see, mom takes care of Lucy and not the other way around. And Lucy has issues.
Lucy hoards. She doesn’t just like to save things or have a few collections, she hoards. I have tried for years to get my mom to take care of this problem, but she always comes to Lucy’s defense. Now mom wants to die at home and quite frankly the home is not safe. What if my mom falls and something falls on top of her? Lucy has a bad knee and won’t be able help mom if that happens. And I can’t drop everything and run over. I live 20 miles away and work 55 hours a week. Plus, I finally met a wonderful woman that I like to spend as much time with as possible. And then there are the cats. Five to be exact. They are not very well taken care of at all. The litter boxes never get emptied and the house smells to high heaven. Not sanitary if you ask me.
I have other concerns too. The house is in mom’s name only. I urged my mother for years to change the deed to include Lucy as an owner, but no. They were so busy traveling all over the world that they never made time to take care of business. I don’t know how Lucy will manage financially either. My head is spinning, there are so many problems. Well I certainly am not going to have the time to take care of Lucy. Mom needs to get things set up so Lucy can be on her own. Sure I will look after her now and then, but as I said, I don’t want to be responsible for her. I wish mom would keep fighting.