HEY MOM

I love working in the bookstore where I am constantly surprised 

as I get to watch slices of life play out before my eyes…

I heard them before I saw them…a mother and her daughter too.

“Hey Mom”, I heard the daughter say, “let me hold the door for you”.

The daughter stood there smiling while opening the door wide…

as her mom, now using a walker, slowly stepped inside.

“Hey Mom! Do you want to look for a book?” her daughter ask her twice.

"Come to think of it”, her mother said, “a dictionary would be nice.”

I showed them a used dictionary, the mother’s face turned red…

“It’s just like the one you had growing up!”

“We’ll take it!” the daughter said.

“Hey Mom, do you want to look for another book?” the daughter asked

“If you want…you know you can.”

“No, I’m tired dear I think I’d like to sit down and talk to this young man.”

(I looked around the store, no other customers did I see

I happily concluded as this mother smiled…she was talking about me!)

She sat, we talked together in voices kind and calm

Meanwhile throughout the store we heard her daughter call “Hey Mom”.

“Hey Mom, are you sure you don’t want another book?” 

“Hey Mom, here’s something you don’t want to miss.”

“Hey Mom I remember reading this when I was young.”

“Hey Mom take a look at this.”

The mother smiled as she heard her daughters questions, her calls…her pleas…

“It’s nice to have a daughter.” she said, “who takes good care of me.

“Hey Mom, do you want to get some ice cream?” the daughter asked as they headed out the store…

“Hey Mom, watch your step…be careful as you’re walking out the door.”

I love how life is cyclical because as the mother finally cleared the door

another mother held it for her daughter as she ran into the store…

“Hey Mom, can I get a book?” her daughter asked…

“there’s so many in here I haven’ t read…

Her mother smiled as she looked at me..

“Of course you can.” She said.

And as the Mom passed by the counter…

With grace…with confidence…with aplomb

A voice rang out from the back of the store…

“Hey Mom! Come here!…”Hey Mom!”