Cariboo Brewing

Striker’s Tales: A New Beginning

• Feb
  4th

Hey everyone, it’s been a couple of weeks since you heard from me. As you know, Momma Striker passed away so I wrote up a eulogy on my mom Cindy Lyons.

Goodbye Momma Strikes! Gone but her spirit is me.

Mom told me not to shed any tears, so at her bedside in her final moments I kept her wishes. I stayed strong for her. I wiped her tears away as she had wiped mine away all these years. I told her to not worry about me. Id be fine and that it was ok and to go enjoy life in Heaven with grandma I prayed over mom out loud, I told her “Give it all to God, she was in God’s hands now and not to be scared. Trust in God.” I know she was happy and proud to see and hear me pray over her in her last moments on earth.

The last little bit of her life was not so pretty. She fought until her last breath. She couldn’t talk but I could tell in her face, she was mad and didn’t want to leave us. She fought!! I reassured mother that her granddaughter Billie Rose would never forget her and I would make sure of that. I told mom, “Thank you mother. Thank you for everything.”

In a way, moms’ passing was very beautiful. For the first time in my life I had seen her without pain. Our family along with father Derik, surrounded mother with prayers more than a few times that special night. My mom received the divine mercy chaplet as my grandma did before her. We could feel the presence of God in the room. I know my mom is in Heaven.

Moms life long intense struggle with pain was over. When God held my mom in his arms and took her away from us I felt relieved. It was a beautiful moment and I thanked God for that. Her body had no meaning to me. Her spirit had left her pain filled body and she was free now. No more pain, no more anguish.

Mom always self diagnosed herself and others, most of the time she was right. She spent most of her life touring and waiting in British Columbia’s best and worst hospitals and doctor’s offices. She got to know so many nurses, doctors, specialist, and surgeons over the years. One in particular doctor I would like to mention, Dr. Fador.

One of the rare times she did make it out of the country she went to Florida. She enjoyed being spoiled by Marty. He showed her some of the best times of her life on those trips. I thank Marty for that.

My grandpa said it best, “Your Mom was tough from day one.” Grandpa’s right. I talked to a longtime nurse, “Cindy Lyons was the strongest woman I’ve ever met.” She was right. That was my mom. Strong!

As far as I can remember mom was in pain. She broke her neck in grade three and spent a whole summer in bed, healing. Several car accidents, crippling rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, blood clot disorders, addictions, depression, can you blame her, she had many broken bones, hip replacements and most recently a partial hip replacement, a cracked pelvis, a broken feemer, a stroke and terminal cancer.

She raised me as a single mother while dealing with all this. Mom got pregnant with me when she was fifteen and amazingly, kept me. She went into labor with me on a bus in Calgary before she had me in hospital.

The odds were against us both and thanks to her parenting I turned out just fine and she turned out to be the best teacher of my life. She was so supportive in everything I did. She supported me and held me on the highest pedestal. I made her proud and that made her feel good. My accomplishments made her feel happy. That’s all that counted.

A very sociable lady with infectious laughter and the biggest smiles, mom was so naturally happy and naturally loud. If she were in the room you couldn’t miss her. she always stayed so positive threw all her health problems. Positive was her favorite word. Positivity is what made her so special. She didn’t have to try to be this way, that was the way she was.

She sure loved people. She loved the underdogs in life, took everyone under her wing and very seldom judged anyone. Feeling compassion for others through her pain, she wanted to help everyone and always saw the best in a person, she gave them the benefit of the doubt and believed in them. Some took advantage of her for that, and even then she would still want to help them.

Mom worked with the mentally challenged. Caring for them was one of her favorite jobs. She was in her element helping people and making money. Two things very important to her over all happiness.

She was very strong willed and if she had her mind set on something you better not tell her any different because she will do the complete opposite whether its right or not. Mom broke her femur just before Christmas. This was a hard pill for her to swallow, but she was up and walking with a walker just three days later.

She had fun with her life when she could and did she ever. She always lived for the moment, for everything it was worth because she had too. The bad days were just too bad. The last couple years my mother watched the mass faithfully almost everyday.

Trust in God. This was the biggest most important lesson she taught me. My mother in the last few years of her life had immense faith. Her faith in the end meant everything to her.

One of her favorite saying was, “And I did it all by myself.” Mom collected disability cheques her whole life and on a shoestring budget but she always made ends meet. My mom gave up so much for me. I went to kids camp every year even if she had to borrow cash.

She always got what she wanted when she put her mind to it. One thing she wanted more than anything in life that she couldn’t control was to be healthy, work and make money like a normal person. She really wanted to live a normal life but was never healthy for long enough to do so.

My Mother sure loved animals, especially her pets. A whistle and a “WEET WEET” would excite her birds. She had a pack of dogs but Her favorite dog Honey, was her pride and joy

From her years growing up, you would know whether she was going to have a good or bad day depending on how many brushes she broke. Man she could break hairbrushes. Just How many hairbrushes came flying out of mom’s room broken? Only Christine Hansen knows.

Mom took her beauty seriously. She took pride in herself too look good, no matter how sick she was. Make up or not she was always the most beautiful person in the room. I loved her in the eighties with her big hair. She really loved hairspray. In fact she used hairspray to defend her brother. Chris got jumped so mom saved the day with a two litre bottle of hairspray and her purse. She swung it like a club.

Mom volunteered at school and the Salvation Army. She loved shopping and thank the Lord it was at the Salvation Army. She told me the Salvation Army saved her life. Everytime we would go there I knew it was like moving day. No matter how sick, she would limp around the whole store pushing a grocery buggy full of everything “I need.” I would call her a hoarder but that never worked she would pile on the junk and yell at me, “I’m not a hoarder, hoarders are dirty.” After at least one hour we would get to the cash register and she would see a few more things she “really needed” and because she was a volunteer we would walk away with a full carload for five bucks!

Cindy Lyons loved her nice lush yard. She loved to garden with wildflowers, feed the wild birds, smell her beautiful lylocks and opening all the doors in her home inviting the sweet Cariboo winds to refresh her home.

After four months in the hospital and in her final days she reached her goal. Her goal was to come home. She had enough; it was time to come home.

Mom just loved her little home. She was so proud of being able to leave me something if she ever passed. She worked so hard at paying off her home all those years while she was sick. Our last night home together I made her bed and she slept with her dog and her boy slept in his room like old times. She was home.

I’ll never forget her standing outside waving to me as id have to leave for my home in Vancouver. I’d always cry as I drove off. I always knew one day this moment would be a memory. The last four months were always the worst feeling saying goodbye to mom as she watched me drive away from the hospital… in her car… back to her home. I know she sat outside the hospital wishing she was coming home with me but we did get her home like we all promised.

All those goodbyes were far worse than our last goodbye. This time I knew our last goodbye she would be taken care of. Thank you Jesus.

And thank you mom, thank you for everything… I mean everything mom. I love you goodbye for now.

Strike out.

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