Oh, was I proud!

Yesterday I saw my sister for
The woman she'd become.
   And, OH, was I proud!


Beautiful and smart
Funny and kind
Peace-making and faithful
Loyal and temperate
Determined and generous
Passionate and strong
Forgiving and healing
Compassionate
Loving and wise.


Sometimes I see you as the little girl growing up beside me, slightly behind me, on the ever dwindling end of the timeline of disaster we called childhood.  You were fierce and kind, and braver than I ever was.  While I was looking up to you, I like to think you were looking up to me, too, and OH, was I proud!


We learned so many things together:

Anyone can be brave with the right person beside them.

Words aren't always necessary, but shoulders are.

Be careful who or what you take for granted.

Santa is for suckers!

You must seize for yourself moments and hours and days you will treasure.

Believe and protect children.

Watch each other's backs, and stay vigilant.

Neither war nor peace is guaranteed for long.

Don't let what you can't control define you.

Be better than you HAVE to be.

Be greater than the sum of your parts.

Give with a glad heart, or even a sad heart, but GIVE.

Don't believe everything you're told.

Keep an open mind, but draw your own conclusions.

Make plans, but know that LIFE is what happens in the meantime.

Don't pass up a chance to laugh.

Never turn down a child's hug.

Keep promises or don't make them at all.

Tears don't mean you're weak.

God sees us out of the corner of his eye.




Today I left my sister, perfect baby at her breast in her arms, and I could force my feet to walk away only because I know they are in good hands, each other's. 

And, OH, was I proud!

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The Truth about your Mommy

1. Your Mommy has always loved you more than anything in the world, and that will never, never change.

2.  Your Mommy remembers exactly how it felt growing up Girl in the American South, and will understand what you are feeling way before you do.

3.  Your Mommy can (and will!) find the humor in just about any situation. 

4.  Your Mommy has inner strength she may not yet know she has, kind of the emotional equivalent of lifting a car off someone in the adrenaline rush of an accident, and she will suit up and fight against everything and everybody that might be looking to hurt you, her child.

5.  Your Mommy will sing and read to you at every opportunity, but, more importantly, she will LAUGH with you every day, helpinging build a strong immunity against the non-stop barrage of bad news that will soon assault your consciousness every day.

6.  She will teach you to laugh at yourself, but be kind to others.

7.  She will never be too busy to comfort you.  In fact, if you need comforting, it will disappoint her if you DON'T come to her.

8.  She will teach you by example that it's more important to BE a good person than to be-LONG to the right groups or organizations.

9.  She will encourage you to be your most unique, creative self, rather than passively LET you.  She won't be lying when she tells you your works of art are the best she's ever seen.

10. You can always trust your Mommy.  She won't ever lie to you, though she may have to carefully filter some truths until you are old enough to understand.

11.  You will never have a bigger fan, or a greater champion, than the woman who gazes on your sleeping face, with a cramp in her arm that she would rather endure than disrupt such a moment of blissful, perfect peace.  She would give anything to be able to give you this kind of peace for all of your life.

12.  She won't give you everything you want, but you will have everything you need.  During the first year of your life, your wants ARE your needs, and she understands this.  You will be a more secure, independent, and happy little girl because your needs were met when you were a baby.

13. Your Mommy would rather cut off her own arms than use them to hurt her child.  Discipline without the "rod" is actually more difficult and less understood, but the parent who practices SELF-discipline first is willing to sacrifice the "quick fix" of a spanking in order to teach her child in the way she should go.  Hitting, no matter how people try to change the wording to be less offensive, teaches that whoever is the biggest and/or strongest gets to be in charge and set the rules.  History is full of large-scale examples of the folly of this kind of thinking. 

14. Your Mommy will make some mistakes along the way- she is HUMAN, after all.  She may even lose her temper and say things she regrets as soon as they come out of her mouth.  But the difference between her and other people you may encounter is that when Mommy says she is sorry, she will truly mean it.  And, if ever she makes you cry, you can be sure her own tears will outnumber your own.

15. You WILL take your Mommy for granted for quite some time as you work hard at the business of growing up, but she will NEVER take for granted the miracle that is you.