Tribute

Mom,
this morning
(on my birthday)
it seems fitting to thank you.
We are bound together
by this day.
This day marks my passage
from inside the womb
to breathing earths air.

Thank you
for loving me.
Thank you
for enduring back aches
and swollen ankles.
Thank you for labor
(which only began
your painful toil on my behalf).
Thank you for sleepless nights
for kissing my feverish brow
for praying for my protection
(when I was beyond your reach)
for working hard
and instilling me
with independence
for having cheerful
be your re-set mode.
Thank you for
trusting me
or just letting me make
my own mistakes.
Thank you for helping me
(so many times)
helping me.
Thanklessly at times
helping me.

Today feels to me
like Mothers day.
It is (after all)
the day you gave birth to me.

Thanks for hearing my brash
teen accusations
and loving me still.
Thank you for grace
all that you gave me,
for all you had received.

You
(like me)
didn't have the
perfect home life,
so you,
(like me)
had to do what seemed best.
Thank you.

I owe so many of my strengths
and yes,
my weaknesses
to your modeling.
and I am so thankful
to have you
as my Mom.

I can see so many things
(that God has thought good)
about our relationship.
As I teach my girls
(with word and deed)
I know (they too)
will only fully
"get it"
when they are a Mom.
This note
is to let you know:

I get it.

Thank you.

Much, much love Mom
on my birthday,
Kimberly

c Kim Damon 2013