We've had our fair share of ups and downs... but even amidst our arguments, I can see how it kills you to see me cry or distraught. You've taught me how to handle pain, how to hold my head up high with a quiet dignity that even now I find difficult. Your strength became my strength and your courage, which has never wavered, not once, became my courage. You are, by far, the most wonderful human being on the planet and I don't know how I could ever live up to you.
The best schooling I have ever received was there at your knees. You've given me the courage to not fear difference, the strength to face adversity, and the wits to holdfast to my convictions. You've molded me, and sometimes way too much that I have become bruised, but to an extent that has softened me at the edges. I am compassionate because of you. Days and nights of humiliation and pain was never present in our household, simply because you're filled with such infectious joie de vivre that it becomes near impossible to hold on to anger. You've protected me from harm, stood up at enemy lines when I couldn't anymore, all the while reading me bedtime stories and regaling me with tales of beauty and laughter and wonder and adventure.
Your generosity of spirit has always proved to be my undoing. Seeing how you interact with people and how they respond has made me want to become a better person. Memories of how cake, always divided between 6 kids, meaning there would be none for you, fills my mind. Your proclamations of "I never liked cake, anyways" never fooled us. We knew you wanted a piece but didn't want to find one of your kids lacking in any shape or form.
Your beauty, both inside and outside, is blinding that sometimes I stop in awe... just stand there and stare and try to comprehend how so close you resemble an angel. My angel. You truly are such a magnificent piece of work.
Words can never fully express how grateful and thankful I am to have been born your daughter. It's pitiful how I'm trying and failing miserably, but you've always encouraged me to do what I know best... and this is what I know.
One day, I hope to be able to tell my own children how I've learned from the best. How wonderful and kind my own mother is. How she will always be my everest. They'll laugh, surely, at the maudlin sentiment, as I did whenever you took on a more serene mood, and I'll laugh too... but deep in my heart, I know it to be true. My mother... a mother, a sister, a daughter, a teacher, an advisor, a hero.
My mother... is beautiful. Softened at the edges and tempered with a spine of steel.
I love you, mom. I really do. I can never say it enough. I love you.
All my love,
Your daughter, Les.
**
When I was very little
My favorite game to play
Was to dress up in your pretty clothes
To be like you in every way
Were you my special guardian angel
When growing up was hard to do?
You'd kiss away my tears
Help me face my fears
I learned what courage is about
Because of you
All that I am and hope to be
All of my dreams I could always see
In your eyes ever shining through
I'm blessed 'cause I learned from you
What it means to be a woman
You were my rock and my foundation
The light that led the way
And your little girl is a woman now
Growing stronger every day
You have a special way of seeing
From a mothers point of view
All thats deep inside of me
You inspired me to see
My wildest dreams are made for coming true
Now I've found love and I'm loved in return
And so grateful to you for every lesson I've learned
No comments:
Post a Comment