Wherever Your Spirit Dwells My Mother

Wherever Your spirit Dwells My Mother I'm sorry that in our time mental illness was so carefully hidden a Christian's cross to bear - no cure under Heaven Until it was too late. Hell! Now days there's a bipolar milk shake to help you get out of bed. I'm sorry no one heard your pain, that dad was too busy being a Preacher that my sisters and I were too busy growing up. You lived a sad life upon this planet. You never really got to know your children haunted by a childhood your could not forgive you struggled to find meaning in a world of foster care. You could not get beyond yourself and learn to trust. Your last days were spent in anger hitting out at any one still hanging in there with you. I need you to know that your life was not wasted my Mother, for you taught me how to live my life. Those hours sitting at your side watching you smoke and drink coffee hearing the stories over and over again of the sadness of your life and the country western songs of woe you sang so beautifully I learned to listen. I learned to be compassionate. I learned to care. You took me to my first opera, my first Broadway musical you made me beautiful clothes and taught me how to sew you showed me how to decorate a home and love a dog. You taught me the value of kind words, how to know when to be still. You taught me that laughter heals almost all wounds and to be thankful for every happy moment that comes along no matter how short a time that might be. So this Mother's Day, Wherever Your spirit Dwells My Mother thank you for my life. I love you now and always. Happy Mother's Day.