A Woman of strength
That stands before me
As a woman who means the world to me
The time I have spent
In the depth of her love
She stands above all
A woman of strength
A woman of strength
She has given me wings
And taught me to cherish
All that life brings
She’s given me life
And the desire to learn
The most that I can
A woman of Strength
A woman of strength
Who has loved the Lord
Conveyed to her children
Her faith in his word
Through all of her trials
And all of her pains
This woman stands tall
A woman of strength
I wrote this poem for my mom over 25 years ago as a poor church mouse trying to make ends meet while I was in college at Weber State. I remember not having any money at Christmas time and stressing about what I was going to get my Mom and my sisters as presents.
Then an idea hit me, I had taken a creative writing class and had written poems that were not half bad, so I thought, I will write each of them a poem. This was Mom’s, Now I definitely know, I am not an eloquent writer, but I still think this poem gets the point across about this very strong woman that I am proud to call Mom.
My Mom has been a huge influence in my life over the past 50 years and still continues to play that part. I have watched her over come so many obstacles that life has thrown at her. She has overcome them with grace, quiet elegance, and humility. She is not a person to be down or negative. Don’t get me wrong. When I have messed up, I have seen her angry and I know when I have pushed those buttons to the point where she gets the Apple Paddle off the wall. (Don’t know what that is? Ask her. It still hangs in her house.)
Mom has put up with a lot. I am sure this is true of all women who have children. We all test our mother’s patience to its limits. I know we tested our mom. And as a single mom, I know Mom had a lot of other tests and struggles on top of the regular day to day life of raising three children on her own. She handled it like a BOSS.
We were not those latch key kids who were allowed to do whatever while their mom was at work. We had our list of chores. Each night Mom would write the chore list and post it on the fridge. Come rain or shine, that job list was there. During the summers, I was in charge of the lawn and flower beds. All of us had to weed that HUGE garden we had in the back yard. She taught us responsibility and the value of hard work.
Did anyone else’s mom cut the cord on the TV so that it was only 3 inches long and required an extension cord to plug it in? Guess where the extension cord was? In her purse, with her, at work. LOL Mom did this so we would do our homework and not spend time watching TV or playing video games. Not for me, mostly for the girls because I know I was a good child and always did what I was told 🙂 I think this is why I am not a gamer to this day. But, we all love to read. Mom taught us that value of learning and education.
We all learned to play the piano and Mom was right there setting the timer at times to ensure we all practiced for our lessons at least 30 minutes a day. Granted there was some kicking and screaming, maybe a bit of back talking. Not by me of course because I was the good child. But, Mom did not back down. Once we had committed to something to better ourselves, she was there to help us follow through. Each of us has a piano in our home today and music is a big part of each of our lives. She taught us the value of accountability.
Now Mom was not a tyrant or dictator. She was firm and required us to be good kids. I excelled at that. My sisters well…… Mom also knew how to have fun and I think growing up even though things were tight, we had fun. We enjoyed each other.
I remember sitting out in our covered patio in the back yard and watching TV on our little black and white 13″ TV eating grapes in the evening when it was nice and cool. Sunday mornings were filled with the smell of bread dough Mom would make and knead and let rise while we were at church. Sunday afternoons, the house smelled like homemade bread and our supper were homemade rolls and a HUGE bowl of popcorn. The type you popped in the popcorn poppers that required oil. We would eat this and watch the Disney Sunday Movie. Every Sunday. With out fail. She created memories.
Trips to Idaho, picnics up Muller Park, all fond memories.
One thing is for sure! Mom loves her family! She is always there as the first one to lend a hand, offer advice, be a shoulder, provide support and above all, participate in the fun!
Mom definitely loves being a part of each of our lives and Ill take it. Ill take it for as long as I can have it. cuz, I kinda like it 🙂 Mom’s the best!