Loving Tribute to my Mother

Loving Tribute to my Mother

A Mother’s Garden of Love

I remember all the times you held me close,
When I was young and needed you,
And all the times you gave your most,
With words that rang so true.

In the bad times and in the good,
You knew what I did need,
You gave love as a mother would,
Gave your love as a tender seed.

A seed to plant within my soul,
In my garden of life it grew,
To catch the sun, shine and grow,
A gift of love from precious you.

For all the treasures of love you gave,
For all the seeds for me to start,
I give back to you the flowers of love,
From the teachings of your heart.

My mother passed away at the age of eighty-nine. Two weeks before she died she was still going strong, working part time as “The Donut Lady” in a large casino. She walked an average of ten miles five days a week passing out donuts to slot players. Some days she made over $100.00 in tips. One day she came home, sat down on the sofa and said, “I am so tired.” Two weeks later, two days after Thanksgiving, she boarded her “Glory Train”. She always said, “When I die I will board the Glory Train to Heaven.”

Mom raised seven kids to adulthood, helped us raise our own children and lived to see many grandchildren, great and great-great grandchildren. She never stopped being a mother. Up through her last year she still cooked huge dinners for special days, still hid Easter eggs and baskets for us, still made sure Santa stuffed our Christmas socks full to the brim, and still gave us valentines.

Mom sang songs to all the babies in the family. She sang songs to us when we were older and sat at her knees. She told us stories of her childhood, her mama and papa, their long trip from South Dakota to the Pacific Northwest in a makeshift covered wagon in the late 1920s. She always cried when telling us of her little brother who died and how they had to bury him far out in the prairie. When a bad storm came upon them a few days later, her Papa found an old abandoned barn to pull the wagon into. There he and Grandma made sure their nine children were all warm and dry. It was a different era back then. She told us so many stories that made us think she grew up in a very different world, and I guess she did, but she was able to help us learn and grow up in our world.

Mama was a loving mother and this is my loving tribute to her.
~~~
© 2016 Phyllis Doyle Burns

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Phyllis Doyle Burns

Chief Editor at The Creative Exiles

I am an author on TCE and write mainly in poetry and short stories.

I have always liked to write.It is important to me that writing comes from my heart and soul. When writing poetry, if I do not feel a spiritual connection to what I am writing on, I will discard it and go on to something I can connect with on a spiritual level. I live in the moment, I write from the past or beyond the veil. When writing fiction I go with whatever inspires me at the moment - it could be funny, sorrowful, romantic or sometimes done with the use of colloquial language from mountain folk or other cultural regions.

I began writing content online in 2007, starting with BellaOnline - A Voice For Women, where I was the Native American Editor, Folklore & Mythology Editor, and the Appalachian Editor. I also wrote articles forThe Examiner, Daily Two Cents, and Yahoo. I am currently an author on HubPages.

Most of what I write takes a lot of research and I love it. Even if it is a fictional story, I will research for accuracy in whatever it takes to make my characters, their era, their location, etc. become realistic to the reader.

I hope you enjoy my works. Thank you for visiting.

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