Wishing all of you who are mothers much joy on this day in your honor…mothers the whole world over keeping things going forward the way it all should, giving their children all they needed to thrive and need still to carry on. And wishing you strong and pleasant recollections of those mothers, like my own, who have gone on to what is next. Like my wife too, a special woman who brought into the world our only child, and cared so ably and tenderly for that treasure of ours.

We have an Echo Show device on the kitchen counter and among many other things it has a slideshow of photos of places and heroes and family and art …things that inspire us…and this technology is quietly effective at jabbing my memory EVERY day about people and things who’ve been important in our lives, including my mother, Lura Jean Gibson Park. In this post, I include an excerpt from what I wrote upon her leaving us here, back a few years, and down below is the draft of what came today as I contemplated another Mother’s Day.

….

Oh woman, good woman
excellent woman
who showed us the way
we see clearly those footprints you left
in the dirt and sand of where you’ve been
and taken us
and appreciate that quiet guiding.
Woman who touched
who inhabited our hearts and made us laugh and laugh
and feel truly for life and others in it,
BIG soul squeezed into slight body
absolutely filling her up while she was here
So persistent, so on top of it all so caring and kind
It didn’t matter when it didn’t matter to whom
just always ready to give, never forgetting
to reach out those gentle hands,
lean down to those in need, and driven to assuage and help lift up,
driven to walk that walk.
Great woman loved wholly this world
her preacher man
her rock of ages
her family her Lord in heaven woman
as beacon and noble yet earthy model
day in and day out, woman who let her simple light shine
whenever it got dark, knew how every opportunity mattered,
standing by her small clan
and those along every path in her world.
Wonderful woman winding down to this
humble finish and this quiet going away from here…
to this point of departure
where we honor you and offer you this farewell,
where we know you will have now a glorious starting again.
We see you crossing over
dear woman of our lives and looking back and waving,
even blowing a small kiss.
And from that gesture
and the echo of your voice and a thousand images we know and carry close
and your lovely written word on pages galore
we know you and know you can be gone
yet be here foreverin that way of yours.
We will hold you and let you go
Remembering hard
Sharing
Cherishing our vibrant, consoling recollections.
We see you crossing over embracing
the loved ones who went before
Reuniting with the rest of your Pennsylvania tribe
on the other side of the great river
we will all cross
Feeling relief and joy and unencumbered completion
as you are in your glory
full of peace and grace
At rest
looking down on us , even illuminating.
We see you there and sense you here too
Mamá Momma Mother Mom
as we called you all those days
and nights of long lives
and now we call out to you there
in your perfect intersection with the sky
in the air
in the world all around we feel you
throughout it all in both the day and night.
Oh dear and blessed Lura Jean
we wish you all the serenity you deserve and promise
we will honor your memory and grasp it tightly and
forever in our hearts.
Good woman Excellent mother
Kind soul of the world and heaven
Go with God now
Our rousing amen to your impressive life.

March 4, 2016