A mother's day is...
Helping with science, spelling, social studies and math,
Begging and pleading to please take a bath,
Trying to each a five-year-old how to skate,
Explaining the difference between a city and a state,
Reading a story, sewing a button on a shirt,
Reminding that before eating to wash off that dirt,
Finding footprints on a freshly waxed floor,
Spilled milk, cookie crumbs, wild questions galore,
A slamming door, signaling thirst on a summer day,
Finding the new carpet is full of blue modeling clay,
Discovering strange little objects under the bed,
Noticing his socks have one green stripe, the other one red,
Wondering why everything is suddenly quiet,
Stopping the washing of dishes to referee a fight,
Laughter, torn blue jeans, skinned up knees,
Begging once more to please eat your peas,
Teddy bears, broken crayons, a coloring book,
Wondering when there will be time to cook,
Listening at day's end to your child's bedtime prayer,
And watching in awe as they sleep without a care.
One day, the children will be all grown
And the years will seem as though they have flown.
At that time, I pray that I might smile and recall,
Filling the quiet with these memories, one and all.

© 1983 Wanda L. Harrell

NOTE:  The summer of 1998 was, to say the least, traumatic for me. My marriage of 25 years ended in July. When my youngest left for college a few weeks later, I didn't want to let go, but I dug down deep and found the courage to bid him farewell and say with all the love in my heart, "I love you and God bless you; now go fly with the eagles." A few moments after he'd pulled out of the driveway, I came inside to read this poem I'd written 15 years earlier, back when he was just a little guy. I sobbed incessantly for an unknown amount of time. My last one had left the nest. I was completely alone for the first time in my adult life. I finally dried my tears, realizing it was now time to begin the business of pursuing my life as a single woman. That was two moves, three books, hundreds of poems, two CDs, several awards, many short stories and nine years ago. And, my children, a teacher, preacher and a cop, are now married with little ones of their own, my precious grandchildren. SMILE