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A Mother's Day Poem
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This is for all the mothers who froze their buns off on metal bleachers at football
games Friday night instead of watching from cars, so when their kids asked,
"Did you see me?" they could say, "Of course, I wouldn't have missed it for the world,"
and mean it.
This is for all the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers
in their arms, wiping away the tears with Oscar Mayer wieners and cherry Kool-Aid saying,
"It's OK honey, Mommy's here."

This is for all the mothers who can't find their children.
This is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they'll never see.
And the mothers who took those babies and gave them homes.

This is for all the mothers of the victims and the mothers of the murderers.
For the mothers of the survivors, and the mothers
who sat in front of their TVs in horror, hugging their child who just came home
from school, safely.
For all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies and sew
Halloween costumes, and all the mothers who DON'T.

What makes a good Mother anyway?
Is it patience? Compassion? Broad hips? The ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner,
and sew a button on a shirt, all at the same time? Or is it heart?
Is it the ache you feel when you watch your son or daughter disappear down the street, walking to
school alone for the very first time?
The jolt that takes you from sleep to dread, from bed to crib at 2 a.m. to put your
hand on the back of a sleeping baby?
The need
to flee from wherever you are and hug your child when you hear news of a school shooting,
a fire, a car accident, a baby in the hospital?

So this is for all the mothers who
sat down with their children and explained all about making babies. And for all the
mothers who wanted to, but just couldn't.
This is for reading "Goodnight, Moon"
twice a night for a year. And then reading it again. "Just one more time."

This is
for all the mothers who yell at their kids in the grocery store and stomp their feet
at a tired 2-year old who wants ice cream before dinner.
This is for all the mothers
who taught their children to tie their shoelaces before they started school. And for
all the mothers who opted for Velcro instead.
For all the mothers who bite their
lips sometimes until they bleed when their 14 year olds dye their hair green. Who
lock themselves in the bathroom when babies keep crying and won't stop.

This is for
all the mothers who show up at work with spit-up in their hair and milk stains on
their blouses and diapers in their purse.
This is for all the mothers who teach
their sons to cook and their daughters to sink a jump shot.

This is for all mothers
whose heads turn automatically when a little voice calls "Mom?" in a crowd, even
though they know their own offspring are at home.
This is for mothers who put
pinwheels and teddy bears on their children's graves.
This is for mothers whose
children have gone astray, who can't find the words to reach them.

This is for
all the mothers who sent their sons to school with stomach aches, assuring them
they'd be just FINE once they got there, only to get calls from the school nurse
an hour later asking them to please pick them up. Right away!

This is for young
mothers stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation. And mature mothers
learning to let go. For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers. Single mothers
and married mothers. Mothers with money, mothers without.
This is for you all.
Mom is who catches you when you fall - and we all fall.
Author Unknown
Heard 5/11/01 at 8:00 A.M. on FM 104.5
"The Big Show with Denis Prior"
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