Random Thoughts

Hold your newborn infant in your arms, wondering "what now" and somehow knowing the answer. Change beds, wash dishes, match socks, scrub Crayola masterpieces off the wall, step on Legos in the middle of the night, and mop sticky Kool-aid off the floor. Hold a little one's hand when crossing the street; wave goodbye when the time is right Unwrap handmade Christmas ornaments and hang them on the tree even when your children have children of their own. Keep plaster of Paris hand prints and bronzed baby shoes on your dresser. Find a lock of auburn hair, a tarnished silver rattle, a paper doily Valentine, track medals, a Letterman's jacket, a graduation announcement, a tattered blanket, a dried out corsage, old report cards, and an envelope full of baby teeth at the bottom of the cedar chest. Wait …  for labor to begin, for the doctor to show up, for the school bus, for a fever to break, for the swelling to go down, for the rash to go away, for for riding less...

Note from ME: As you might be able to tell, I started this yesterday but never finished. Perhaps that will be the story of my life. Mama & ME Mother's Day was overshadowed this year by the fact that it fell on the eve of what would have been my father's 94th birthday. I've been pretty busy missing him, feeling sorry for myself, and wondering how I'll get through a day that if he were here he'd be saying he's old and what's the point in celebrating but waiting with barely disguised anticipation for a stack of presents and a German Chocolate cake covered in candles. Imagine, that, me feeling sorry for myself. No mother to honor. No father for the Birthday Fairy to harass. Boohoo. But wait. I'm a mother. Shouldn't I honor ME? And what about my sisters who all have children and some have grandchildren? Grandmother's are mothers who deserve a double dose of honoring. And what about all those other mothers out there? Tall ones, short ones, happy on...