by DP

The day is about to end, her head rests on the pillow, her body is tired of the day and yet her heart is still well awake. Questions are filling her mind and gripping her heart. Questions that only she can make and answers that will be deferred for years. Answers that will take long periods of time to be pieced together. Through her mind, thoughts rushing back and forth. Thoughts of the possibilities, the future, his smile, what will he become? Will I do it right?

Upon the slightest sound she hurries in the middle of the night to check. She has an eye for the most intricate detail, every part of him is known to her. She doesn’t take any chances and checks and rechecks every inch. And she glances at him once again, just like if it was the first time, moves her hand between his hair and kisses his forehead. There is no imaginable explanation of the immense devotion she is able to experience. This intense love that cannot be explained with mere words; it has to be lived. Starting with the surrendering of her entire body, to be used as a vessel to create life. She was willing to be changed, and she did.

Time has passed. Lunch boxes, field days, recitals, presentations, graduations, weddings, the scenery her life was filled with, has passed, yet it is still alive in her and she relives it as if it was happening today. Her skin is not the same, her hands showing the toll of intense labor, yet unquestionable love, are always extended. There is never a bad time to call, there is no wrong moment to ask, even when she has been wronged by who she loves the most. When his steps takes him out of her sight, her heart goes walking with him and the thoughts rush back again. And she prays, and she trusts, waiting for the moment for another embrace. And the moment it takes place or her voice heard, everything feels safe, everything is ok.

It is understandable, because the day he was born to life, she was born to the greatest calling of any other. And it doesn’t matter the age, be it one month, one year, forty, fifty or seventy-five, she remembers and loves as if it was the first time her eyes saw your face. She is a mom.

To my mother, and to all mothers today, Happy Mother’s Day!