Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Carol’s Mother’s Day Wish on Mom’s Birthday


Carol’s Mother’s Day Wish

While raising 10 other children,
three of them born after I came home,
She accomplished Himalayas of laundry, Rocky Mountains of cooking,
and Fruitful Plains of flowery gardens

In the midst of all this activity
She did everything I needed and almost everything I wanted

Because she fed, bathed, and made wrinkle-free beds,
I spent more than 50 years in bed without a pressure sore,
no case of pneumonia, not even a single night in a hospital

I was a reader and she found perfect books
at the library and on the bookmobile
I was a writer and she scribbled my confusing corrections
in crowded margins
I was a poet and she brought me stories
of outdoor experiences
that I could turn into haiku and tanka
I was a bookmaker and she helped me design covers
measure and cut and tape, choose fonts and evaluate colors
She packaged and mailed hundreds of books

She participated in every aspect of my life,
Always with interest and engagement

She was at least half my memory

Now she relaxes on her sunny porch
Great-grandchildren and hummingbirds
swirl by

Happy Mother’s Day
To my amazing
And very dear mother

You gave life to me twice –
once on November 16, 1949
and again day by day starting in the 1950s

With love,
Carol