Thursday, December 22, 2011

Memories Light the Corners of Our Minds - or something like that

I've been feeling a little nostalgic lately.  Kind of missing my mom and dad and sisters and brother (I live far from all of them).  And so yesterday I was looking at a Christmas gift my sisters and brother and I gave my mom and dad a couple of years ago.   It was a compilation of a bunch of our collective childhood memories.    Some made me smile, some made me laugh out loud, and some made me tear up.  And a lot made me think "man, what a bunch of weirdos!"   But they each brought back some really, really good memories.   And at the end of the book was a poem.   And it kind of says it all about what kind of parents we have.     

  
“When You Thought I Wasn't Looking”

When you thought I wasn't looking,
I saw you hang my first painting on the refrigerator,
and I wanted to paint another one.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you feed a stray cat,
and I thought it was good to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you make my favorite cake for me,
and I knew that little things are special things.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I heard you say a prayer,
and I believed there is a God I could always talk to.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I felt you kiss me goodnight,
and I felt loved.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw tears come from your eyes,
and I learned that sometimes things hurt, but it's all right to cry.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw that you cared
and I wanted to be everything that I could be.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I looked...
and wanted to say thanks for all the things
I saw when you thought I wasn't looking. 

Author Unknown

I hope as you read you thought of someone in your life who has been influential and has helped you become the person you are.   And hopefully, each one of us is that person to someone else.  

Okay!  Enough of the serious stuff for now!   I need to go have me some fun!!

7 comments:

  1. I love that! Thanks for posting. Reminded me of my Mom, and also made me hope that is the kind of parent I am being.

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  2. Michelle, from reading your blog, I think your children have a GREAT mom! Someday they'll even tell you that!

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  3. I love the idea of a compilation of childhood memories. And I love the poem. I once thought of doing a little booklet full explanations of family in-jokes so that the brave souls who married into our family would know where things like "those are MY ABCs" and "chicken noodle in the sky!" came from. Turns out, I was way too lazy to follow-through on that. :)

    I gave you the Liebster award. You can read about it here:

    http://maskedmom.blogspot.com/2011/12/liebster-sequel.html

    Don't feel obligated to play along on my account. Just think of it as a little unconditional bloggy love.

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  4. What a wonderful poem! Kinda the way my family was, too. Remember?

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