Lambie

Sitting by your side at the piano while you played and sang show tunes

Clinging to you as we swam 

I once brought you a bouquet of flowers, one from each of the bushes in the yard that I could reach

You could embarrass me like no other and ignore any crisis that was too inconvenient to deal with

Your nickname, Lambie

Only your side of the family could use that name

Lambie, I loved that

That, and all that can be read between the lines of hand written recipes

You held me, then tolerated me, then let me go

When I’m really laughing hard I wish you were here

then realize that you are

This one was posted earlier but belongs here now...

We All Knew

My sister, my mother, my future ex wife, me

in the hospital room where my mother was dying

We were all in a pretty good mood, considering

I showed my mom pictures

My house, the river, the forrest, then one of me standing by a cliff, looking over my shoulder at the camera

I had a cold that day

My eyes were puffy

I didn’t want my picture taken

My sister and mother gasped

They saw my father

I think it was the eyes

My sister said it was the attitude

My mom burst into tears

“Do you know how much I loved him?”

Just then, maybe for the first time, we all knew

Please be sure to read   Dogwoman's  remarkable series of posts memorializing her mother