A Strange Mother's Day - May 2020

For many of those who may be reading this, it will indeed be the strangest Mother's Day we have ever encountered. I am well aware that many of us make it a VERY SPECIAL EVENT each year, around this time, as we set aside this day to honor the one who brought us into this world and gave us life. Some, on the other hand really do little, if anything at all, to honor their mother on Mother's Day...whether spurred on from abohrrent life choices of their Mom; or as the victim of restraints of time and travel, we conveniently pass off this day as just another Sunday in May, with little thought to reaching out to our moms. For others like myself, whose Mom passed  away almost 20 years ago, this can be a day of bittersweet memories and some lingering regrets...but in an effort I made some 40 years ago, I wrote the following poem to try, in some way, share with my Mother the profound effects that being her son had on me.

If your mother is still alive, but you are locked down due to the continuing effects of the Covid-19 virus and can't get up close to spend time with her; don't miss the opportunity today to let your mother know how much her love and support has meant to you in your life thus far....and if your can't find the words to say, fill free to use mine.

I was so blessed to have shared with my mother these words so many years ago and I believe they still ring true today. I also know, with great asurety, that my mother was forever blessed to know how much she was loved by me and I am forever grateful that God gave me the opportunity to tell her how much she was loved before He called her home. Don't let this strange Mother's Day be the last one your Mother will remember ...unless you make it the best one possible under some trying circumstances. Doesn't your Mother deserve to know how much she means to you? MY ANSWER IS AN EMPHATIC ...YES!!!!

So to all you Moms out there...this is for you!

I.O.U…

For services rendered as a physician 

who helped mendbroken skin, bones, 

and occasionally a broken heart.

 

I.O.U…

For services rendered as cook, maid, 

and seamstress, who toiled

and slaved to make last year's styles

 wearable for one more season.

 

I.O.U…

For services rendered as night watchman 

and incessant worrier who lay listening in

 the wee hours of the night 

for a faint cough or cry; 

or the closing of the door to be sure 

I was home, safe and sound.

I.O.U…

For services rendered as a psychologist 

and guidance counselor

who helped me discover who I am 

and what I want to do with

the life you gave me.

I.O.U…

For services rendered as a teacher 

who taught me right from wrong 

and whose very presence in my daily activities

taught me the joy of living.

 

I.O.U…

For services rendered that must hereto 

remain unlistable,since the sheer magnitude

of all the things you are and have done 

for me are lost in the annals of time.

Though such love as yours is not recorded,

 the thoughts and memories of  the debt 

I owe is deeply etched upon

the pages of my heart.

    May my heart and the love it bestows

        be a living memorial to the

   most wonderful woman in the world.... 

My

Mother

W. Patrick Queen 

Copywright  ©  May 1977