To Mom this Mother's Day

Coming home to shining wood, clean floors and potpourri simmering on the stove...and mom sitting at the table...waiting for the shifts of kids.  Highschoolers, Middle schoolers and then elementry kids with stuffed backpacks and piles of papers and permission slips.  She smiled, listened and took note.

Nothing like
a friend

who came home to piles of mess, her job to clean, fear of dad and fear of alone-ness engulfing her as she swept as best as she knew... but not good enough for the man whose stale breath beat down a timid spirit and smote a fragile bird.

***

Thoughtful gifts given in timely fashion, tailored to my desires year after year, holiday following carefully planned holiday

Nothing like
a friend

who still waits wondering if her mother will remember all the other siblings and forget...her...again.

***

She battled her issues with food, her cookie fixation.... she gave up the homely dress for love of a husband...  She walks with dignity and lets her beauty shine in her 63 years.

Nothing like
a friend

whose mother never cared about presenting beauty that she was inside....about caring enough for her man to care for herself--butch hair and obesity didn't bother her.

***

Mom you gave, you pushed, you fought, you prayed...you looked less and less at yourself and more and more at Father God and me, your child.   Thank you--