This blog is lovingly dedicated to the sweet memory of my mother, Cindy Karchunas. She was a kind, warm and wonderful woman who will forever be missed. She would do anything for a friend and always put her family before her own needs. She had the heart the size of Paris!
She also knew how to have a lot of fun and had a sarcastic wit about her, which she got from her dad, who had even MORE of a sarcastic wit! She used her humor and saw laughter in everything she had to face in her hard life. She was diagnosed with SLE (lupus) in 1985 and was given a 5 year survival rate. She so totally had it in her mind she was going to beat that, and she did!
In the 1990's, she was diagnosed with RA (rheumatoid arthritis) that hit her hands, wrists and shoulders bad. She continued to work as a 911 operator as hard as she could until she no longer could and filed for disability in 1995. She was very sad about that, she loved her job
She had a way about her that people respected, and boy did she ever keep my dad in line! LOL. She had a soft spot for animals, loved Michael W. Smith and loved to cook. A fond memory I will always have is when we went to a Michael W. Smith concert and she just got out of the hospital after having her knee replaced. She just HAD to go, walker and all. She didn't care! The line behind us, though, as we were going for our seats DID care.....LOL.
I love you, Mom, and I will remember all you taught me, all you gave up for me so I could go to nursing school. I will remember how brave you were in the path of the unknown and how you handed each challenge with grace and dignity. You are my hero.
Cynthia Laverne Churchill Karchunas
July 7, 1948 - July 8, 2008. My mom's most favorite flower in the whole world were daisies. These are you, Mom!
