A mother whispers to her son…
“I remember our first night together…as I wiped away a tear…
thinking how…only a day ago…you weren’t even here.
Thinking back on how…exactly…this moment came to be…
wondering how someone as beautiful as you…
began your life inside of me.
Asking myself as I hold you…looking down on you from up above…
is it possible…is it even conceivable…to so quickly fall in love?
When I felt the softness of your skin…the roundness of your head…
Your ears…your nose…your mouth…I had to stop myself from weeping…
as…for the first time in both our lives…I watched you, my baby, sleeping.
I remember thinking to myself…is there anything more beautiful…
more heavenly…more innocent…more sweet…
and then you moved his little hands…and kicked your little feet.
I put my hand upon your chest to calm you…and there I let it linger…
soon your entire little baby hand had found its way around my finger.
And as you held on to my finger…I found myself hoping you’ll never let it go…
wishing this moment could last forever…yet…knowing you will grow…
Knowing there will come a day…when I can no longer hold you in my arms.
Knowing I will do my best to keep you safe from sorrow and from harm…
But I was not sad or worried at that moment…as I held you and stared at you from up above…because…as inconceivable as it sounds…at that moment…I understood a mother’s love…
I understood it on the day you were born…yes…even way back then…
how each day…
as you grows a little older…
I…will fall in love…again.”
His assignment was a simple one…to go home…observe his family
and then write an essay his teacher entitled, ‘What Love Means To Me’
He did just that…for days he watched his mom…he secretly took notes
and after a little bit of observation…this is what he wrote:
WHAT LOVE MEANS TO ME
Love is my mom making sure I have all my meals…that I am happy and well fed.
It’s how she makes sure I take a bath, clean behind my ears and brush my teeth before I go to bed.
It’s how she happily gets behind the wheel when it’s her turn to car-pool
or how she greets me with a hug and a kiss when I get home from school.
I saw so many big things my mom does when I was watching…big things of love just for me
but I also saw love in little things she does when she thinks I do not see.
It’s when making me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich she takes the time to spread
the peanut butter…just the way I like it…on both slices of the bread.
It’s the notes she slips into my lunchbox…how she finds a way
with a smiley face or a little heart…to brighten up my day.
It’s when she reads me a book in bed at night…once I’ve prayed my soul the lord to keep
how she always reads to the end of the book even when she thinks I am asleep.
It’s when, after she tucks me into bed and has turned out all the lights,
she checks back in later…to make sure that I’m all right.
It seems to me love has two parts…before this…I didn’t know…
each part is equally important…each part make love grow.
The first part has to do with those big things we do for others…
like the big things my mom does for me.
Those big things when I’m watching…that are easy for me to see.
The second part are all those little things we do for each other…
Like all the little things my mom does for me
when she thinks I am not watching…when she thinks I do not see.
So to me love means making another person happier than they had ever thought…
Like all the big things my mom does for me when she knows that I am watching…
and all the little things she does for me when she thinks that I am not
His mom has saved his essay all these years…and sometimes on a whim
She pulls it out to remind herself what her love meant to him.