Ode to Moms

When we were 17, our moms "ruined" our lives daily.
Too many rules and curfews that seemed arbitrary.
Trust, support, friendship and finances is all that we craved.
We vowed that our children would have a different fate.

The process started when we were handed our babes, naked or wrapped, perfect.
It was like starting out the semester with an "A", seemed easy enough not to suck it.
Suddenly, the floor dropped out beneath us, parenting was much harder than we thought.
The endless needs, illness, fears, questioning whether there was progress or not.

We enjoyed the baby during the day while shlepping his diapers and stuff.
Still at night, we questioned ourselves, did we satisfy his needs enough?
As our children grow, we know what we know.  When she is sick, we feel sick too.
When she is sad, we cannot believe how deeply we feel her emotions inside us too.


Generally, we are baffled by their behavior and confused by why they don't get it.
We work so hard to steer these crazy ships, we can never just relax and accept fate.
But when she triumphs we feel elated, taking personal pride in all of her successes.
This roller coaster ride is intense and sometimes unfair, there is and will be no break for us.


In just a few years our kids will rebel and possibly call us names foul.
Yes, the words can hurt and the rejection is real but we will not hand in the towel.
Because we secretly know that even then, they need us and cannot let us go.
We remember the babe who cried when we left and needed us in order to grow.
Happy Mother's Day!