Arronda Mosley - A Bitter Sweet Moment

A BITTER
SWEET
MOMENT

ARRONDA MOSLEY

AuthorHouse

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Bloomington, IN 47403

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Copyright 2019 Arronda Mosley. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, King James Version. Public Domain

Published by AuthorHouse 06/29/2019

ISBN: 978-1-7283-1747-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-1745-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-1746-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019908706

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A Bittersweet Mo ment

This is a work that touches the heart and soul in a profound way. We are candidly and poignantly introduced to a beautiful family, one that is perfectly imperfect, much like all of ours. We join their journey, and experience their triumph as our deepest fears of potentially fatal illness, accidents, horrific incidents and loss of loved ones are confronted. We learn the true value of time, and love. We see the power of forgiveness, the limitless power of faith and how trust in God proves to be what truly saves us all ultimately. I can tell you as both a breast cancer survivor and one who has suffered the loss of my Mother, that this book is a must read. It will move you in unexpected ways. This intimate story provides comfort and a graceful path to surviving a few of the hardest moments life offers all of us at one point or another.

5 Stars for A Bittersweet Moment!

Kathy Kowalski

CONTENTS

I dedicate this book to my children, Tynisha Savage, Tyron Hurst, and Lakeisha Smith. I thank you for your unconditional love and support that helped me complete this project.

CHAPTER 1
FAMILY

T here isnt a day that goes by that I dont think about my mother, Helen C. Harris, who was affectionately known as Christine (Chrissy). She was born on June 15, 1941. She was the mother of four children. She had two girls and two boys and married to Robert Harris. Mom was the youngest of eight children born to the late Della and Othar Hurst Sr. She had five sisters and two brothers.

My mom and her sisters and brothers were all very close. We lived in a small town in lower Delaware for years. Mom and Aunt Patsy, her next eldest sister, always lived close together in the same town in the early years when I was growing up. These two were almost inseparable. I remember when we had an apartment up on the hill and my Aunt Patsy lived right next door. She had three children during that time, and we all did almost everything together.

We had other family too who didnt live far away, including my grandmother Della who lived around the corner. I loved walks to her house to visit. She had the cutest little pink house on Coulter Street. She always had a garden that she tended to, and my uncles would come by to help her keep it up and would bring vegetables from their garden.

I didnt know my grandfather Othar, as he passed away from Leukemia when my mother was little. We were a big family who stay closed to one another. Gatherings in the summer were always fun and a great time to see everybody and enjoy good southern food. My aunties all could cook, and each had their own specialty food.

When we moved after living with my uncle for a while, Mom had purchased her first mobile home in Ellendale. Ellendale is a very small town with one stoplight back then and still one stoplight today. It seemed all our family lived there already by the time we moved. Moms sisters and brothers stayed within miles from one another in this small town just as we had in Milton.

I was excited about this move, as I got to see my cousins every day again. We moved two houses down from Aunt Patsy, and Aunt Aggie lived right beside her. We were all together again.

I attended church at a young age, going to my grandmothers church where she lived, but when we moved, my cousins and I started going to Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church attending the Sunday school classes. We would load up in Moms, Aunt Aggies, or Aunt Patsys carwhoever was taking us to drop us off. I enjoyed the classes and learned a lot from my first Sunday school teacher. After Sunday school, we would walk down to the corner store and buy candy with any money we had left over that we didnt put in the collection plate at church or spending money we were given for doing chores around the house. We all looked forward to that.

Mom raised her children as a single mother, not receiving child support for any them. I dont recall many men in my moms life but two. My father, the late Hilbert Watson was nonexistent in my life during the early years. He wasnt one of the two. I didnt get to know him until I was in my early thirties. My mom didnt have anything to say about him good or bad. I do recall her telling me that I was the product of a one-night stand and that she wasnt a willing participant. I had to think about that for a minute, as it stunned me when she first said it. I was curious what Hilbert had to say about that. When I questioned my father, he said that wasnt how he remembered it but didnt elaborate on it either. I didnt push the issue. It didnt really matter. I was here regardless of how it happenednot much anyone could do about it now. I just know that mom always made me feel loved.

I did spend a couple of summers with my father and his family. He was married and lived in Maryland with three children. Thats when I learned I had another little brother. Hilbert was a military policemen in the US Army. He had come around to see me a few times after the summer visits until the promises that he was coming turned into something he wasnt following through on. Even then, my mom still didnt speak badly about him, but whenever he did come around after not showing up, she let him know it wasnt cool. Mom was truly being mother and father to me and my siblings.

The gentleman Mom was very fond of was Christopher Green, who was my youngest brothers father. Chris lived in Pennsylvania and would come to visit on the weekends. He bought me my first watch, taught me how to drive a car, and would always give me money to buy books at school. I didnt understand why he only came around on the weekends but at first I figured it was from the long drive. One day he and Mom were having a disagreement. I was listening outside the door when I heard Mom tell him that she didnt want to see him anymore because it wasnt right, and it wasnt right because now she was going to church and trying to get her life in order. Chris didnt seem to take it well and insisted he wasnt going anywhere. I knew that was a decision that was hard for Mom to make, but she did and stuck by it. She won the disagreement.

I remember Chris from most of my childhood and loved him just like he was my own father. When Mom ended things, not only did he not take it well; I didnt either. He would still come to visit after that day but spent the night sleeping in the chair in the living room chain-smoking cigarettes. He would try to make his way in the bedroom to see her, but she wasnt having it and asked him to leave. One day he stopped coming around like he was before, but he did call and came to visit his son, my youngest brother Timmy.