Mama

My Dearest Mama,

Thank you for reading to me. Thank you for your quiet, sing-song tone when you read Goodnight Moon and Love You Forever. You read to me from infancy, instilling a love for the written word in me so early on. You made it easy to love fiction. You embodied the character of the kind and loving mother. You are the elegant, poised, romantic mother. You have perfect posture and graceful hands. You maintain composure always, like you would imagine a queen to do. Your smile and laugh are not boisterous, but genuine. The few times I have heard you belly-laugh are some of the greatest joys I have experienced.

Anyone who has had the pleasure of tasting one of your culinary creations, knows that they might not ever eat that well again.

You won the 'best-dressed' and 'most-likely-to-succeed' superlatives in your high school. Not a likely combination.

You are the reason I love the beach.

You are the wisest woman I know. I remember you telling me that you were, in fact, my mother, not my best friend. Despite my cries about how all the other girls had "cool moms", you were perfectly content being who I really needed.

When I was a rotten little girl, you would remind me of a nursery rhyme I heard time and again, there was a little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead, and when she was good she was very good, and when she was bad she was horrid. That was a pretty accurate description, actually. You also told me you hoped one day I would have a little girl just like me.

Whatever little girls I have later in life, I can only hope that I will be as lovely as you. When I catch myself doing something that you would, I think, oh, I am turning into my mother, and I smile. I couldn't be happier.

I'll love you forever
I'll like you for always
As long as I'm living
My mama you'll be

Love,
Ruth Margaret