A Triple Treat of Words

Photo Credit:  Moonlightway from morgueFile.com

It’s May.  Finally!  April had like 900 days in it, right?  A special day is coming up, ladies!  Mom, mum, mother, mommy, momma, ma, madre…whatever you like to call her…it’s Mother’s Day this Sunday.  Woohoo!

This Mother’s Day might look a little different because of The Rona.  Heck, your mom might even look a little different this Mother’s Day.  Ha ha!  You know, it’s been almost two months without a hair salon, mani-pedi, or shopping.  But!  We love our mommies!  No matter what!

Some moms enjoy flowers, wine, chocolate, jewelry, new clothes, and a nice meal.  Yes, I love all of those things!  However, my love language is certainly words.  My children know that I adore words.  So, this Mother’s Day, I’ve been blessed with three beautiful poems that my kiddos wrote.  I want to share them with you today.  It’s a triple treat for me!

My Son’s Mother’s Day Poem

Her voice is very calm and worry free,

Very collective, just like me.

She can laugh unpredictably, even in a crowd,

When she does laugh; it’s very loud.

Yet, I am still very proud.

She smiles in happy times and tries to in sad,

Which will ease anyone from their worries,

Making them feel glad.

Her smile, shining so bright,

Sometimes, it is my only light.

The hair upon her head is long and brown,

Which will make you do anything but frown.

Her eyes twinkle like stars,

And shine like brand new cars.

She has teeth that are sparkling, shiny, and bright,

Not to mention they are a pearly white.

She’ll embrace you in a hug that’s warm and tight,

That would make anyone love her with all their might.

The jokes she eagerly tells,

Are so funny, never punny; they’ll put you under a spell.

She is gifted with a bounty of knowledge and smarts,

Showing them off, using all her brain parts.

The clothes she wears are unique and bright,

Making her such a beautiful sight,

Once again, making anyone love her with all their might!

My Older Daughter’s Mother’s Day Poem

Mothers truly are,

The best blessing by far.

In everything that they do,

To always help you.

Mothers help you with school,

And every other rule.

That you need to learn,

In order to yearn.

Rules for life when things get sticky,

And also for when we kids get picky.

But moms always know what’s right,

Even when things get tight.

And when life feels kind of rough,

Mothers will only get more tough.

They support us in all that we do,

And for that, we thank you.

Sometimes their love can be hard to hear,

But that’s when you know they’re being dear.

Through the thicks and thins,

Through the losses and wins.

They help you succeed in all that you do,

Just because they truly love you.

Mothers always know what is best,

Even if the answer is as simple as rest.

We love you, Mom, more than it may seem,

You are the sunshine in our beam.

You always know the rights and wrongs,

Your words are like beautiful songs.

Even though we fuss, argue, and fight,

Know that you’ll always be our light.

That shows us the way,

Through everything you say.

Your inspiration is like a shooting star,

Or a lightning bug in a jar.

You’re the one that brightens our day,

Even when things may get in our way.

So open your heart and your ears,

And let’s all give some cheers.

For mothers this year and every day,

May God bless you in a special way!

My Younger Daughter’s Mother’s Day Poem

Thank you for everything you do,

I really appreciate you.

You are the best mom I could ever ask for,

I want nothing more.

I am so grateful for you,

A cow goes moo.

(Sorry, I couldn’t think of anything that rhymes with you)

(I still can’t...so...Moo!)

Anyway, I love you more than you know,

And you always go with the flow.

About what we’re going to do,

Even though you’re sometimes cuckoo!

You make me laugh all day long,

Even when there’s something wrong.

I know I don’t say thank you enough,

And sometimes, on me, you’re a little rough.

But I love you so much,

(That may change if you don’t feed me candy and such!!)

Love, Your favorite child (I am just kidding or…am I?)

Yes, my heart is full indeed.

Whatever your love language is…I hope your children give you a triple treat of it on Mother’s Day!

For all the sweet moms who have died and for all the precious mommas who are sick…I’m praying for you.  For all those beautiful women in our lives who are just like moms to us…I thank God for you!  For mommies everywhere…you’re awesome and you rock!  For our beautiful Mother Mary, I can’t thank you enough for being Jesus’ mom and our mom, too!

I’m heading back to work, Sunshines, so I’ll take a little break from writing again.  However, let’s continue to keep each other in prayer as we navigate this Corona Journey.  Bye for now!

Time For A Rona Rhyme

My Son's Paper Flower Bouquet!

One of my son’s school projects was to create a flower arrangement with flowers made of paper.  Now, my son is a huge fisherman, so I can see him making paper fish maybe, but, paper flowers?  Hmmm.  He’s the type of guy that could easily wear a T-shirt that says, “I might look like I’m listening, but in my head…I’m fishing.”

During this quarantine, he and I have actually had quite a few talks about fishing.  I even have dreams about fishing now.  In fact, last week, I dreamed that I caught a record-breaking grouper.  It was gigantic!  Guess what I caught it with?  Chocolate.  Yes, fishermen, listen up…you might be on to something if you start using chocolate for bait!  Ha ha!

Anyway, in between my son watching videos on how to fly-fish, which rods and reels are best, and secret fishing “honey-holes”…he needed to sit down, focus, and create a floral masterpiece…from paper.  And, he did it!  Wow!  He sure did!  I was so impressed with his finished product.  My girls jumped in on the fun and helped to make some, too.  My children never cease to amaze me!

My ten-year-old daughter then grabbed an old magazine, cut out one of the pages, and made a beautiful flower for her recycled project, following her brother’s lead.  It was inspiring to see something so breath-taking come from something as simple as paper!

It made me think that even simple words, when put together in a special way, can create something new to enjoy.  For me, that’s a rhyme.  So, I figured it might be time for a Rona rhyme!

Rona, Rona…are you STILL here?

The unwelcomed guest who stays all year!

How long will you seriously be around?

We’re all feeling a bit unwound.

It’s now respectful to NOT shake a hand,

It’s something that’s just so hard to understand.

Hugs are no longer a way to show love,

This craziness is nothing I’ve ever dreamed of.

We show family our love by staying away,

That’s difficult to grasp on any given day.

The refrigerator talks to us, “Girl, step back!”

“You cannot be hungry for another snack!”

Stretchy waistbands say, “Don’t worry.  You’re fine!”

“You can start exercising after some wine!”

We’ve all become teachers…ready or not!

Even though math is a thing we forgot.

You made us lose track of weeks and days,

We just walk around in a Netflix haze.

We TikTok here and we TikTok there,

We barely wash or brush our hair.

Children are wearing the same clothes for Zoom,

We call it our homeschool uniform…Boom!

Now, we wear masks and live in alarm,

Before biting, mosquitoes sanitize my arm!

Rona, Corona, Covid-19,

Please, go away, you’re being too mean.

You made our world stand completely still,

And, truth be told…we’ve had our fill.

While you are here, you ARE teaching us though,

We need home, faith, and family more than we know.

We have time to feel grateful for people and things,

Building courage to handle whatever life brings.

We’re superheroes by just staying home,

Saving lives by choosing not to roam.

We’re learning what we’re capable of,

We’re especially learning new ways to love.

While we’re ready for you to go, Rona, please!

We’ll hold on to the memories; get down on our knees.

Lord, help us remember the lessons we’ve learned,

During Corona…when lives overturned.

As I look at the bright bouquet of flowers that my children made from simple paper, I’m reminded to enjoy some of the simplicity of these days.  While unpredictable, worrisome, and difficult as the days can be, let’s try to look for the simple joys around us. 

Let’s pray that God will give us the special sight to see and appreciate these joys.  Last week, I found joy…in paper flowers…and chocolate bait.

You can do it, Sunshines!  I believe in you.  God does, too.  Bye for now.

My Daughter's Paper Flower

It's The "How" That Matters

Growing up, I learned that it’s not so much “what” you say, but “how” you say it that matters.

One of the blessings that I’ve enjoyed observing during this Corona Craziness is that we are all finding new ways to make people feel special.  One of my Rona Revelations is that I see people changing the “how” in the way they express their love and I’m loving it!

Sometime in March, it seems we made a transition from Daylight Savings Time to The Twilight Zone.  I can even hear that eerie music in my head.  You’re humming it now, too, aren’t you?  It’s like doo-doo-doo-doo...doo-doo-doo-doo. 

Anyway, during this time, one of the days we’ve been figuring out “how” to celebrate differently are birthdays.  Just last week, we participated in a drive-by birthday parade to bring joy to a couple of friends on their special day.  So many friends and family members took part in this cool new way to celebrate.  They drove by with balloons, posters, noise makers, and music.  It was an awesome sight to see!

Another birthday project that we’ve joined in is the making of Happy Birthday videos.  My girls have shown me the ins and outs of all the Snapchat filters.  I love a good laugh, so I particularly enjoy the ones that alter your face and voice.  Wow…we’ve had some fun with that!  Try it.  Today’s Sips picture is one of my favorite filters so far.

Laughter has helped my family trudge through this Corona Mire.  My ten-year-old came up to me with a Knock-Knock joke.

Her:  Knock, Knock.

Me:  Who’s there?

Her:  Smell Mop.

Me:  Smell Mop Who?

Go ahead and say that last line again.  Yes…Smell my poo!  Oh mercy!  For some reason, I just lost it.  I was laughing so hard that I almost had to just sit down on the floor.  My make-up was mixed with tears and smeared all over my face.  I looked like I had had a rough, rough night on the town.

When she told me this joke, I happened to be in the process of getting my brownie ingredients together in the kitchen.  Coincidence?  I think not.  After putting the last scoop of brownie batter into the pan…I had some left on my finger.  Do you know where this is going?  Oh, please don’t judge.  My Corona-Crazy has to come out sometime.

I hid my hands behind my back and went to my daughter’s room.  I asked her to tell me the same Knock-Knock joke just once more.  When I said the last line, I couldn’t help but show her the brownie batter on my finger.  Yep!  I did.  She screamed, “Mommmm!  Moooommmmmm!  Ewwww!  That’s so gross!  Seriously?!”

I’m thinking that there’s a certain level of cuckoo happening in every household as we all try to hold down the fort and keep it together.  One minute, I’m thinking that cleaning the dust from the baseboards and fan blades with a Q-tip might be a good idea.  In the next moment, I think that eating an entire box of Lucky Charms cereal while staring at a lizard on the kitchen window sounds like more fun.  I choose not to clean the baseboards because if I stir up 20-year-old dust, I will be sneezing and coughing…and THAT, my friends, would be the end.  We cannot cough right now.  Don’t even.  Don’t.  So, I always opt for eating the cereal.  The positive side to that is that I consume like 500% of my vitamins and minerals for the day.  It’s a win!  Ha ha!

Another topic that comes to mind with “how” we say things is that we’re expressing ourselves with lots of texting, Facebooking, emailing, and typing these days.  Lots and lots.  So, we might want to be mindful of our punctuation.  Yes, it matters.  It’s “how” you write it.  If you need some laughs like I do, here are a few punctuation oopsies:

I’m sorry.  I love you.

I’m sorry I love you.

She finds inspiration in cooking, her family, and her dog.

She finds inspiration in cooking her family and her dog.

Drink.  Pee.  Repeat.

Drink pee.  Repeat.

A woman:  Without her, man is nothing.

A woman without her man is nothing.

Twenty five-dollar bills ($100)

Twenty-five dollar bills ($25)

I’m giving up drinking for a month.

I’m giving up.  Drinking for a month!

Here’s another cute one.  I saw this on a Mexican Restaurant sign and I can relate.  It said, “Sorry, we are closed due to short staff.”  A desperate Mexican-food-lover wrote in response, “Well, please hire taller staff because I need a taco!”  Ha ha!

Most folks these days are wearing masks or bandanas or Buzz Lightyear headgear when they go out in public.  We are covering our noses and mouths for safety.  However, one important facial feature can still be seen.  Our eyes.  I know countless people are in the trenches caring for others day in and day out.  Right above those masks they’re wearing, we see their eyes.  We also see “how” their eyes talk and that matters.  Our eyes can show great love, even without words.  Our eyes can show other emotions too, even without speaking.

As we continue to go about our days, let’s continue to remember that it’s the “how” that matters.  We’re six feet apart, but there’s still love in our heart.  I’m sure that God is smiling at all of the new ways we’ve found to make people feel special.  I’m certain that He’s happy about the creativity we’re using to change the “how” in the way that we love and celebrate others.

Hang in there, Sunshines!  Pray, laugh, and love…that’s “how” we’ll make it through this!

Bye for now.