![\"\"](\"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Mom-and-Gram-1980s-1024x754.jpg\")
Mom and Gram, sometime in the early 1980s.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
“This is Mommy Dearest,” you’d say
\nwhenever I called on the phone
\nAn old throwback to a movie
\nwhich always made me smile<\/p>\n
At the end, I tell you I love you once more
\nhang up the phone, continue my day
\nWe\u2019ll talk again soon, probably tomorrow<\/p>\n
I spoke to you a few days before
\nI was going to call you that day
\nI was waiting a couple of hours \u2018til you were back home
\nbut the crash had already happened when those thoughts entered my brain<\/p>\n
A moment in time
\ntakes that away
\nWe can\u2019t communicate like we once did
\nand I\u2019m not ready to live without you <\/p>\n
We used to talk on the phone all the time
\nsometimes to chit chat,
\njust to catch up
\nsometimes because I still need my mom<\/p>\n
There\u2019s never been a need to forgive anything in our lives
\nour words and actions move us through time together
\nWe\u2019ve weathered many storms
\nbut, this time, the waves might kill me<\/p>\n
Did I make you proud
\nAm I enough
\nAm I good enough
\nto still be called your daughter<\/p>\n
Have I done what was needed
\nto help you live comfortably now
\nis there something else, I need to do
\nto ease your pain, to give you your dignity<\/p>\n
A moment in time
\ntakes that away
\nWe can\u2019t communicate like we once did
\nand I\u2019m not ready to live without you <\/p>\n
I slashed my hand in an accident
\nwanted to call you after I returned
\nfrom the hospital
\nstitched and bandaged and hurting inside<\/p>\n
I picked up the phone, but I can\u2019t call
\nyou can\u2019t soothe my hurts
\nI am helpless to take your pain away
\nall I can do is tell you I love you <\/p>\n
Do you sleep well there
\nAre you getting better
\nwill you be my mommy again
\nI\u2019m not ready to let you go<\/p>\n
Your dark, curly hair, placed in a bun
\nis now a matted mess
\ncut and gone
\nand I had to do that to you<\/p>\n
A moment in time
\ntakes that away
\nWe can\u2019t communicate like we once did
\nand I\u2019m not ready to live without you <\/p>\n
I\u2019ll see you in a couple of weeks at your bed side
\nI\u2019ll never feel like I did enough
\nto help you get better
\nbut all I want right now, is to see you smile again<\/p>\n
Are you afraid, are you sad
\nwhen can we talk, when can we hug
\nwhen can you say once again, I love you
\nDo you still?<\/p>\n
Did I do enough
\nam I enough
\nI miss your voice
\nI miss my mom<\/p>\n
A moment in time
\ntakes that away
\nWe can\u2019t communicate like we once did
\nand I\u2019m not ready to live without you <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[417,254,284,285],"class_list":["post-4056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-mom","tag-nebraska","tag-poem","tag-poetry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4056"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4060,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056\/revisions\/4060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}