Happy Mother's Day!

To all moms everywhere!
Below is a poem, one of my favorite ever. It was written by J.D. Frazer of Userfriendly an Internet Cartoonist and Author. I love the comic strip because it is the best geek humor around. Foxtrot was pretty good too, but Userfriendly is an environment nearly identical to an Internet Service Provider I used to be a part of in Richmond, VA. Those guys are now Convergent Technologies Group of Virginia and they are kickass friends as well as the best Information Technology services group around.

But this is about MOMS. My mom died in February 2001. She died of Lung Cancer. I was there. I miss her like you wouldn't believe. She was always full of life and energy and always put other people first. She loved my brother and I intensely and she always made sure we knew it. I haven't always been the best child, but she stuck with me all the same, through everything. Some things I am glad she hasn't been around to see, others I would give absolutely anything to for her to be here or for me to talk to. I've needed her now more than ever. She would have been the coolest Grandmother ever for Brandon. I wish he would have been able to know her more than the little time he had. His other Grandmother was also claimed by cancer, just four months after he was born. I was there for that too. She was another amazing woman, and again, I have needed her now more than ever. I'll take any help I can get really, but these two women, totally different from each other, were strong, wise, and overflowing with love. You cannot replicate or replace a mom, a grandmother, a great grandmother. I remember them all, each moment, as though I was still next to them, soaking up their words, their hugs, their affection, their smiles, the essence of who they were. In that way they live on in me, but I cannot translate that to my son.

Moms, you are the absolute best. No one will ever love your children as much as you. Even though your children may not act like it matters to them, you and your love will be the most important thing to them for their entire lives. You matter far more maybe than you will ever ever know. It is never a matter of perfection, being the perfect Mom, it is only ever about CARING and LOVE. The kind of love that sticks with you through everything. Moms love like that. The time we have, had, together was far too short, by a thousand years, and time stole you away far too soon.



Motherhood, O Gordian Rite,
Chafed with paints of life,
A canvas thick with lighter oils,
Yet stained by Quiet Strife.

Ideal heights, and high ideals,
Make us aim for steeples.
I try, you try, to clutch our bond,
Yet prove we’re different people.

Words, O Words, what they can say,
Real things not just tokens!
Yet sometimes thought departs my mind,
And wrong words become spoken.

A Turn of phrase I cannot quoth,
Nor proffer due salute,
So gifts I give to speak for me,
A poet fallen mute.

Due words I mightn’t ever say,
And you mightn’t always see,
Yet when time arrives to take your hand,
I’ll say time stole you from me.