To My Mother
written by: Brian Wayne Smith
@briansmith3575
Lift your head.
Light that cigarette.
Have a drink on me.
You’ve earned it.
Though this isn’t nearly enough to show you the love I have for you. It doesn’t express how that very love and feeling flows through my body like water in a river. How when I speak of you it’s with love, understanding & yes sometime with questions of “why”. I know in due time the Lord will answer any questions I may have. All that matters to me right now, at this very moment is that you’re MY mother! I’m proud of you.
So…..
Lift your head.
Light that cigarette.
Have a drink on me.
You’ve earned it.
From the abusive relationship, to the point of having strength enough to confront, threaten & leave that very relationship.
Lift your head.
From the FORCED conception to the C-Section birth of your only child.
Light that cigarette.
For your motherly instinct kicking in down at Cairo Hospital. Which saved me from the reaper’s hands.
Have a drink on me.
Being my mother, father, pastor & teacher. I’ll always remember different things you taught me. Either from the words spoken from your lips or from your actions. Oh yes ma’am, I was watching. We didn’t have it easy but at least we didn’t have it that bad. Growing up a country boy from the hills of Villa Ridge allowed me to enjoy nature fully. Helped me find God within my surroundings. (I still look toward the trees when I need to calm myself down because I see God in them.)
Lift your head.
Light that cigarette.
Have a drink on me.
You’ve earned it.
From the time I needed help reading. To the day I walked across the stage in my cap & gown. You were there. You were always a mother 1st even when work would take you away from me. I knew and understood the pressures of a single mother. For all the doctor and dentist appointments that you paid for OUT OF POCKET with no Insurance or Medical card.
All the times you said to me “You don’t listen.”………Let me clear something up right now. (smiling) I wanted to explore and learn through trials & errors. Granted 9 times out of 10 YOU WERE RIGHT. How else would I have been able to take BOLD, BRAVE & DARING steps out into this world and become my own man? What you preached to me was “rules”. I took them as “notes” or “guidelines”. Which to this very day I preach the same message to your grandchildren and hope they learn from it as I did.
Lift your head.
Light that cigarette.
Have a drink on me.
You’ve earned it.
Do you remember playing games with me? Ole’ Maid, UNO, Battleship & Dominos. Just to name a few. Those few hours took me to a wonderful place. I forgot about how you had to struggle to make ends meet. Your laughter when something extremely funny would happen was priceless! Thank you for being a truly noble person. When we had no food and you trusted in the Lord to provide for us. We ate like royalty for that whole week! Fish fry every night. We went fishing and caught enough to feed ourselves and anyone who stopped by. I even remember running plates up to Aunt Annie. She would eat a say “Tight as a tick. Re you sure can cook.” Through you, your acts of kindness and that very event opened my eyes to believe in a Higher Being. Which leads me to when you gave me my first Bible. All you requested of me was to read a verse a day. You never stopped me from asking questions about religion. You taught me it was okay to talk to God like a person. Just show respect.
Lift your head.
Light that cigarette.
Have a drink on me.
You’ve earned it.
Now mother I sympathize for the lonely nights you longed for a man to hold you and love you the way a hardworking queen should have been. Though I THANK YOU MORE for not bringing different men into your house. Our home. I’ll always remember you saying to me “You’re the prince of this castle. Just remember who’s the queen.” There was never a king in that castle but you did a damn good job raising your young prince to become one. Years later, I became a King with a queen, a princess & a prince. I’m not perfect at my power position but that’s why you are my Royal Advisor in which I seek knowledge and more importantly a listening ear. You’ll always be my Queen from Villa Ridge. Because of that I AM from a ROYAL bloodline. So be proud of yourself momma.
Lift your head.
Light that cigarette.
Have a drink on me, because it’s safe to say Ms. Reba Waddy
YOU HAVE EARNED IT.
Happy birthday Momma.
I'm a husband, father, business owner of BRAYNE, LLC, a clothing company that promotes positivity by way of fashion, a writer, a student and an electronic engineering test technician. Life is busy but I'm striving to live my dreams with my great family that I love deeply. There are times when I feel like a failure. Then I look at how many times I've fallen just to dust myself off and continue running the race. Now I can look around at my life and see that my "failures" were just locked doors that God wasn't ready to open yet.
- Courvoisier - January 16, 2018
- Why Tomorrow - December 30, 2017
- 10 Commandments of America - December 7, 2017
