For my mother, on her birthday.
The color of peach or salmon hues
Reminds me of my mother
As do
She showed me how to clean them once or twice
Soaking them in warm water in the bathroom sink
She showed me how to do hospital corners while making the bed too
And how to anchor my thumb and pinky before pushing food down the disposal
Lessons I barely use now but collect just the same
The small ways she loved me and gave me her world
I’m sure she is a wonderful mother, he tells me
But first, she is a wonderful person
He searches for words beyond kind, and humble, and amazing
And I nod and nod and say yes and yes
I say yes for a thousand reasons
The way she gives herself to others
Generous with her time and her love
I say yes for selfish reasons
The way she reads what I read
And watches what I watch
Stepping into her daughter’s world
With an open heart
So I am never alone
I say yes for the way her brow crinkles
When she’s thinking, when she wants to get it right
(and she will)
The way she falls asleep in under a minute
But used to wake up searching for answers
That she’d bring to us in the morning
The way she doesn’t cry at the same movies I do
But says “I’m going to cry” when reading a draft of core values
For an organization she started
That will be as good as she is someday
I say yes, she is amazing
She wears for me
Is just one sliver of the color wheel
Of who she is
And I am so thankful
I have someone so bright
So easy, so beautiful
To love
With Love,
Natalie
