THE PARENTAL KITE

Parenting is like flying a kite…you do an awful lot of running around

using every breath you have to get your children up off the ground.

And you never feel prouder…remember how you grinned

The first time you saw your children fly…

the first time they caught the wind?

For you knew you’d helped them off the ground…

you helped them find their wings

and you knew, though they were up there flying,

you still controlled the string.

And when you realized they were good fliers.

when you finally had no doubt

Slowly…gently…lovingly…you let more and more string out.

And you kept letting string out…and they flew so high in the air

that you could barely see them…but you could feel they were there.

Until the day you understood just how high they’d flown

so you cut the string and smiled as you watched them fly off on their own.

Hoping that…wherever they go…in whatever they may do

every now and the the winds…will carry them back to you.

Hoping they know whatever joys or heartaches their life up there will bring

you will always be down here…

and you will always have more string.

IT COULDN'T HURT

 He learned this from his Grandma…a woman with wisdom, grace and style.

When she felt someone needed one…she would send them out a smile.

His Grandma thought a smile glowed…it was like turning on a light…

and she could send it’s rays in any direction…up…down…left…or right.

She would close her eyes…think of that person and in a whisper she would say,

“I’m sending you this smile…I hope it brightens up your day.”

She’d even send smiles to those who’ve passed saying, “When they see how my light shines.

They’ll know they don’t have to worry…that I am doing fine”.

His Grandma said, “I truly believe……although I really do not know

that when I release a smile…it knows just where to go”.

“You know those times something makes you feel better…when you’re feeling blue?

“That is just my smile,” she’d say, “finding its way to you.”

She believed in the power of love…in the power her smile could exert…

“I don’t know if it will help.” She’d say…”but I know…it couldn’t hurt.”

There are still moments when he feels it…moments that seem grim…

when seemingly out of nowhere her smile reaches him…

And he often smiles up at her today…

knowing when she sees the light of his smile shine…

She won’t have to worry…because she’ll know he’s doing fine.

For he believes in the power of love…in the power his smile exerts….

as his Grandma said, it might not help…but he knows it couldn’t hurt.

WHEN IS A BOOKSTORE NOT A BOOKSTORE

 When is a bookstore not a bookstore…certainly we have books galore…

but I think that sometimes it all depends on who comes in the store.

Some people come in for the air-conditioning…some to get out of the rain

Some people only peek their heads in and quickly pull them out again.

There is one women who comes in…an older woman…she always wears a hat.

She sits in a chair near the counter and all she wants to do is chat.

Yesterday a mother carrying her daughter on her shoulder walked into the store

Her daughter quickly smiled then toddled away when her mom set her on the floor.

The days when my children and grandchildren were that small are long ago in the past.

I had forgotten, in the interim, how something that small could move so fast.

Her mother immediately shot me a smile…or was it a look of dread?

“She headed down that aisle.” I pointed. “Toward the children’s section.” I said.

As her mother ran to the back of the store…now fully engrossed in the hunt

I had to smile as her daughter…had already returned to the front.

I heard her mother call her name…in that deep voice of a headmaster…

which only caused her daughter to smile and run away a little faster.

As I watched the daughter play this game and heard her mother’s sighs

I remember back to those sweet days of my own parental exercise.

The mother finally corralled her daughter…(she somehow found a way)

saying, “I don’t think the bookstore was a good idea…we’ll come back another day.”

And again in the interim I had forgotten toddlers are smarter than we think…

because as she waved goodby from her mother’s shoulder…I’m sure I saw her wink!

When is a bookstore not a bookstore?  

When it’s a place in which people peek…

When it’s a place to sit and chat a while…

or for a child to play hide and seek.

AN EXERCISE IN MY MIND

 I have this exercise I do…it’s an exercise in my mind…

I do it whenever I feel I’m losing may ability to be kind.

I simply look around me from the ground to the sky above

and I begin to list in my life…all the things there are to love.

I love my wife, my children, my grandchildren…

looking at old photographs.

I love watching people holding hands and anytime a baby laughs.

I love the moon, the stars, the clouds, the sun that hover in the sky

I love ice cream, cake and cookies…

I love peach cobbler, and apple pie.

I love animals that fly, run, swim, slither, crawl or hop around

I love animals that are loud…and those that never make a sound.

I love insects…ladybugs and moths…butterflies and bees.

I love all the different flowers and any kind of tree.

I love a hot summer day and a snow white winter freeze

I love the oceans and the mountains…the rivers and the seas.

I love drinking water, root beer and an occasional sweet iced tea.

I love watching cooking shows, British mysteries and reruns on TV.

I love to laugh sometimes so hard I shake from my shoulders to my belly.

I love picnics…eating sandwiches made with peanut butter and jelly.

I never get to finish my list because by this time in my mind…

I’ve already forgotten what it was that made me feel unkind..

SOME DAYS WE JUST NEED A LOVE POEM

 

Why do I tell you ‘I love You’ so often?

Why from my lips do those words continue to flow?

Why do I keep repeating…

something you already know?

It’s because I’m so happy to have found someone to love…

and someone who loves me too.

It’s because I never tire of hearing how you love me…

or saying I love you.

It’s because if something should happen to me tomorrow…

I’d like to know, at the end of your tears…

you have enough of my ‘I love yous’ stored in your heart…

to last for the rest of your years.

JOY AND SORROW

 Our lives will have their share of joy and happiness

with a sprinkling of sorrow and pain

They will see their share of sunshine.

They will see their share of rain.

At times we will find ourselves in the midst of a joy…

like we’ve never felt before…

when all of a sudden sorrow

comes knocking on our door.

At times we will find ourselves consumed with sorrow…

wondering if it will ever end

and suddenly find joy waiting for us

just around the bend.

Knowing life can change in an instant…

No matter what we plan…

We try to remember to enjoy the joy

every moment that we can.

And when sorrow is a visitor

We try never to lose sight…

how her shadows will eventually fade

In the joyfulness of light. 

Knowing life is unpredictable

always changing

and has no guarantees

we close our eyes

we fold our hands

and we get down on our knees.

We pray that fate or destiny 

or the universe will be kind…

that when sorrow enters our life…

joy is never far behind.

SEARCHING FOR GOLD

 In a way we’re all like prospectors panning through the river of life 

for each day, as we grow old…

we search for little bits of happiness…

our own little nuggets of gold.

And just like prospectors…we never know

in the river about to be mined

what happiness we might discover

what nuggets of happiness we might find.

For happiness comes in many colors, shapes and sizes

to discover this is paramount…

and if we’re lucky at the end fo the day

we have more nuggets than we can count.

And if we’re truly blessed at the end of our life

when our story has been told

we’ve collected a lifetime of happiness

of little nuggets made of gold.