Ode to a Mother

Ode to a Mother

By Your Youngest

To my mom on this day of celebration and joy

Come these thoughts of rememberance from your youngest boy

Looking back on my life, quite awestruck to see

Your self-giving heart that cherished we three

From diapers to cleaning to girls’ bouquets

To our special traditions that last to this day

Fondue, my own stocking, birthday morning surprises

Sacrifice for my joy way beyond any surmises

Remember David, Goliath, and that reclining blue chair?

You’ve shown us God’s ways, in rough times and in fair

Songs I still remember, no, I need not be afraid

For I know that my God (and sometimes worrisome mom) is watching always

Midnight low scares and convulsions galore

To trust God and let go, despite fears that you bore

Fighting a disease, our conflicts, and my anger troubles

Yet you saw a good heart, despite all of the rubble

You taught me to clean, almost cook, and not act like a slob

And why can’t I multi-task?  “Always finish the job.”

You taught me good listening, which I’m still not sure I do

But so many of my good things I attribute to you

From our sailboat adventures, to disease, to the future and what end

Your life has led me to live by trust for the Bestest of Friends

Homemade Bible games, angel dramas, and the Books of the Bible sing along

You’ve lived to incorporate Jesus in our lives by your daily life song

You’ve expanded my beliefs, character, and mind

 You’d give up your life so that my own I could find

You make such good food that marriage is scary

You’re a standard to which I measure those pretty college fairies

Now, we know you aren’t perfect though you sometimes try to be

Because I’m still neither Dustin nor Rufus- I am simply me

But you have a heart of pure gold, and that’s hard to ignore

For no matter the outside, the insides matter more

A mom interested in me, my life, friends, and thoughts

Is worth more than the gold over which any man ever fought

How can I sum, Mom, what you mean to me?

For the words I would need are more vast than the sea

I could write for pages, beyond a single pen and its ink

For they couldn’t begin to scratch all of you that I think

To sum it all into one, I wish you know this be true

That all I could want in a mother, I have found in you