The other day I was ricocheting slowly
off the blue walls of this room,
moving as if underwater from typewriter to piano,
from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,
when I found myself in the L section of the dictionary
where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.
No cookie nibbled by a French novelist
could send one into the past more suddenly—
a past where I sat at a workbench at a camp
by a deep Adirondack lake
learning how to braid long thin plastic strips
into a lanyard, a gift for my mother.
I had never seen anyone use a lanyard
or wear one, if that’s what you did with them,
but that did not keep me from crossing
strand over strand again and again
until I had made a boxy
red and white lanyard for my mother.
She gave me life and milk from her breasts,
and I gave her a lanyard.
She nursed me in many a sick room,
lifted spoons of medicine to my lips,
laid cold face-cloths on my forehead,
and then led me out into the airy light
and taught me to walk and swim,
and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard.
Here are thousands of meals, she said,
and here is clothing and a good education.
And here is your lanyard, I replied,
which I made with a little help from a counselor.
Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,
strong legs, bones and teeth,
and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered,
and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp.
And here, I wish to say to her now,
is a smaller gift—not the worn truth
that you can never repay your mother,
but the rueful admission that when she took
the two-tone lanyard from my hand,
I was as sure as a boy could be
that this useless, worthless thing I wove
out of boredom would be enough to make us even.
Sent my mom an Amazon gift card, which she loved, though next year I’m going to get her one of these. : ) And my daughter made me the most beautiful cards and wrote me a poem. Nothing better. And we got our FURminator. So the day is off to a most excellent start.
Wishing all of you mothers a happy Mother’s Day!
3.
demkat620
My kids made me breakfast in bed. I’ve got brown scrambled eggs, bacon slightly under done, dried out sausage, really peppery home fries and toast with clumps of unmelted butter.
Best. Breakfast. Ever.
4.
Dennis-SGMM
Happy Mother’s Day, you mothers.
And a special Happy Mother’s Day to all of the moms.
5.
MR Bill
Done, before she went to church.
And my daughter who is a wiccan of sorts (mostly in reaction to the Christianity she saw around her) burned a Mother’s Day card for my late exwife.
Be good to your parents, even when they might have not been so good to you.
The Bean laughed for the first time today, while we were giving her a bath. I did my first run since January this morning and when I came back this was hanging on my bedroom wall. So far so super!
7.
demkat620
@R-Jud: The first Mother’s Day is the best. Congrats!
8.
Krista
@demkat: awww….that is exactly what an awesome mom would say.
I gave my mom her present last week, as she was visiting, and I wanted to give it to her in person. But I’ll definitely be calling her today, and will call my sister too.
(Okay, that was weird — I had just finished typing that, and my sister called me.)
Come on, admit it, you cried over that didn’t you?
My mom and I bonded over a new book on Ed Sullivan and the revelation he loved Topo Gigo.
10.
Krista
@R-Jud — oh, that laugh must have just been sweet. There’s nothing like it.
11.
donnah
I’m fortunate to have my mom and my husband’s mom still alive and kicking, and I’m hosting a cookout at my house. No small sacrifice, this. It meant cleaning the house yesterday and making a variety of goodies like a chocolate cake and a cobbler for dessert.
We’re lucky to have sunny weather so we can all sit out on the front porch and enjoy our day. It’s not about the gifts, although I bought them and will receive them, but rather the time spent with the older generation and the younger one, all together.
Happy Mother’s Day!
12.
JL
Hugs to all!
13.
Genine
Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms and moms-to-be (Krista- and anyone else who’s preggers) out there!
@Krista: I was just thinking about you and wondering how your most important Mother’s Day was going – after all you’re growing a person today – that’s pretty darn ‘motherly’. :-)
16.
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
Don’t forget to call your mom!
My own is no longer with us, but I did what I could. Wished all the moms I know a happy Mother’s day, too.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the BJ moms. Sadly, my mom is no longer with us. My plan is meet up with my sisters and go to the parents’ mausoleum, plant some flowers on my grandparents’s grave, and then get some early dinner with them. And then they all want to go see Star Trek, which I saw yesterday. And liked enough that I’m heading back with the sisters today. Which tells you how good it is. The last time I went to see a film multiple times was probably around 1977 and the film was “Up In Smoke.”. And that was just an excuse to smoke a ton of ganja and laugh with an entire theater filled with people stoned out of their minds. See the new Star Trek early and often.
19.
Rosali
Did BJ slow down or is it just me?
Happy Mother’s Day to the moms out there. Enjoy your Sunday.
20.
djork
This kid’s mother should be very proud. (I had to relate this to moms somehow.)
His chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, Obama observed, always has a hard time on Mother’s Day.
“He’s not used to saying the word ‘day’ after ‘mother,'” Obama said.
28.
bago
Happiness is Using the words ebullient and Fisto in the same tweet.
Texas charging rape victims for rape kits is just stupid. Do we charge people who have been robbed for the effort to collect evidence of the crime??? Hell now, well a rape kit is collecting evidence to solve a crime, why the hell would you charge the victim for that?
I complete agree. I saw Star Trek on Friday and had a really good time. I will be seeing it again in Imax.
31.
Fulcanelli
Awwwww Edeeeeeeee. Happy Mother’s Day to all the BJ moms.
Sure wish I got along with mine better. Sigh.
32.
Krista
@ Bad Horse’s Filly:
@Krista: I was just thinking about you and wondering how your most important Mother’s Day was going – after all you’re growing a person today – that’s pretty darn ‘motherly’. :-)
It’s going pretty well, thanks! I’m probably going to take a short nap soon, and then am having my in-laws over for barbecued chicken, potatoes, salad and lemon meringue pie! Yummy!
Not this boy! Biological hardwiring can kill you dead without awareness. (“Getting along” is not the problem!) If you’re one of the Damaged Ones, remember that it happened for a larger reason… You have to make the connection to a greater love on your own, but it can be done.
I did send her candy… hardwiring is a friggin’ bitch!
34.
asiangrrlMN
Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! And to all the moms out there.
Speaking of moms, the SNL follow-up skit to Dick in a Box is hilarious! However, I would like to say that those talking about it last night FORGOT to mention that Patricia Clarkson was the other mom. Are you kidding me???? Double yum!!!!!
35.
Persia
@lamh31: Women are supposed to be sexual gatekeepers, don’t you realize? When they get raped it means they fell down on the job. Ugh.
Happy mother’s day to all anyway. I got to run to the pharmacy for shingles meds for my mom. Moms; take care of yourselves. It’s good for you and your kids.
36.
Zuzu's Petals
I had a wonderful early celebration with son and wife and baby last week…first class time had by all. They too are celebrating their first Mother’s Day post-utero.
Traveling today, and when I landed in Phoenix there were text messages and a voicemail awaiting me…and finally, we connected by phone. I am lucky, lucky, lucky.
Oh yes, Southwest gave me a free beverage in honor of the day!
37.
Zuzu's Petals
PS, and happy Mother’s Day to all!
38.
YellowJournalism
Happy mother’s day to all the moms and moms-to-be!
Well, my mom called me…in order to speak to FDDD. I don’t understand — it sounded like I’d forgotten something.
42.
Emma
My husband bought me a new LG chocolate, and, since it is nice phone and my daughter didn’t want me to lose it or break it, she’s bought me a nice lanyard so I can have it around my neck, without being afraid that I’ll leave it at home, or even worse, lose it on a bus. Thank you, Alma!
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JK
A poem for Mother’s Day
The Lanyard – Billy Collins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EjB7rB3sWc
The other day I was ricocheting slowly
off the blue walls of this room,
moving as if underwater from typewriter to piano,
from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,
when I found myself in the L section of the dictionary
where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.
No cookie nibbled by a French novelist
could send one into the past more suddenly—
a past where I sat at a workbench at a camp
by a deep Adirondack lake
learning how to braid long thin plastic strips
into a lanyard, a gift for my mother.
I had never seen anyone use a lanyard
or wear one, if that’s what you did with them,
but that did not keep me from crossing
strand over strand again and again
until I had made a boxy
red and white lanyard for my mother.
She gave me life and milk from her breasts,
and I gave her a lanyard.
She nursed me in many a sick room,
lifted spoons of medicine to my lips,
laid cold face-cloths on my forehead,
and then led me out into the airy light
and taught me to walk and swim,
and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard.
Here are thousands of meals, she said,
and here is clothing and a good education.
And here is your lanyard, I replied,
which I made with a little help from a counselor.
Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,
strong legs, bones and teeth,
and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered,
and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp.
And here, I wish to say to her now,
is a smaller gift—not the worn truth
that you can never repay your mother,
but the rueful admission that when she took
the two-tone lanyard from my hand,
I was as sure as a boy could be
that this useless, worthless thing I wove
out of boredom would be enough to make us even.
J.
Sent my mom an Amazon gift card, which she loved, though next year I’m going to get her one of these. : ) And my daughter made me the most beautiful cards and wrote me a poem. Nothing better. And we got our FURminator. So the day is off to a most excellent start.
Wishing all of you mothers a happy Mother’s Day!
demkat620
My kids made me breakfast in bed. I’ve got brown scrambled eggs, bacon slightly under done, dried out sausage, really peppery home fries and toast with clumps of unmelted butter.
Best. Breakfast. Ever.
Dennis-SGMM
Happy Mother’s Day, you mothers.
And a special Happy Mother’s Day to all of the moms.
MR Bill
Done, before she went to church.
And my daughter who is a wiccan of sorts (mostly in reaction to the Christianity she saw around her) burned a Mother’s Day card for my late exwife.
Be good to your parents, even when they might have not been so good to you.
R-Jud
The Bean laughed for the first time today, while we were giving her a bath. I did my first run since January this morning and when I came back this was hanging on my bedroom wall. So far so super!
demkat620
@R-Jud: The first Mother’s Day is the best. Congrats!
Krista
@demkat: awww….that is exactly what an awesome mom would say.
I gave my mom her present last week, as she was visiting, and I wanted to give it to her in person. But I’ll definitely be calling her today, and will call my sister too.
(Okay, that was weird — I had just finished typing that, and my sister called me.)
Bad Horse's Filly
Since there’s no CBS Sunday Morning thread:
Currahee!
Come on, admit it, you cried over that didn’t you?
My mom and I bonded over a new book on Ed Sullivan and the revelation he loved Topo Gigo.
Krista
@R-Jud — oh, that laugh must have just been sweet. There’s nothing like it.
donnah
I’m fortunate to have my mom and my husband’s mom still alive and kicking, and I’m hosting a cookout at my house. No small sacrifice, this. It meant cleaning the house yesterday and making a variety of goodies like a chocolate cake and a cobbler for dessert.
We’re lucky to have sunny weather so we can all sit out on the front porch and enjoy our day. It’s not about the gifts, although I bought them and will receive them, but rather the time spent with the older generation and the younger one, all together.
Happy Mother’s Day!
JL
Hugs to all!
Genine
Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms and moms-to-be (Krista- and anyone else who’s preggers) out there!
valdivia
@Bad Horse’s Filly:
Topo Gigio was the best.
Happy mother’s day to all mothers who gather here.
Bad Horse's Filly
@Krista: I was just thinking about you and wondering how your most important Mother’s Day was going – after all you’re growing a person today – that’s pretty darn ‘motherly’. :-)
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
Don’t forget to call your mom!
My own is no longer with us, but I did what I could. Wished all the moms I know a happy Mother’s day, too.
And I wish the same to all here who are mothers.
dmv
Happy Mother’s Day, moms.
Yay, moms!
geg6
Happy Mother’s Day to all the BJ moms. Sadly, my mom is no longer with us. My plan is meet up with my sisters and go to the parents’ mausoleum, plant some flowers on my grandparents’s grave, and then get some early dinner with them. And then they all want to go see Star Trek, which I saw yesterday. And liked enough that I’m heading back with the sisters today. Which tells you how good it is. The last time I went to see a film multiple times was probably around 1977 and the film was “Up In Smoke.”. And that was just an excuse to smoke a ton of ganja and laugh with an entire theater filled with people stoned out of their minds. See the new Star Trek early and often.
Rosali
Did BJ slow down or is it just me?
Happy Mother’s Day to the moms out there. Enjoy your Sunday.
djork
This kid’s mother should be very proud. (I had to relate this to moms somehow.)
4 year old Keith Moon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMnwOZA0DQk
Gebghis
http://mom-sourcing.co.in/
Best….H
cosanostradamus
.
It’s not too late! LAST-MINUTE MOTHER’S DAY GIFTS!
.
Bad Horse's Filly
@valdivia: For you.
Strangers In the Night
Punchy
In with the obligatory “I just rolled over and said hi to your mom” joke.
Booyah.
Ned R.
Happy indeed. Will be calling my mom soon to make sure the gift arrived on time!
Notorious P.A.T.
@cosanostradamus:
Haha )
Dennis-SGMM
Obama at the WHC Dinner:
bago
Happiness is Using the words ebullient and Fisto in the same tweet.
lamh31
Happy Mother’s Day All!!!
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/09/texas-rape-kits/
Texas charging rape victims for rape kits is just stupid. Do we charge people who have been robbed for the effort to collect evidence of the crime??? Hell now, well a rape kit is collecting evidence to solve a crime, why the hell would you charge the victim for that?
Genine
@geg6:
I complete agree. I saw Star Trek on Friday and had a really good time. I will be seeing it again in Imax.
Fulcanelli
Awwwww Edeeeeeeee. Happy Mother’s Day to all the BJ moms.
Sure wish I got along with mine better. Sigh.
Krista
@ Bad Horse’s Filly:
It’s going pretty well, thanks! I’m probably going to take a short nap soon, and then am having my in-laws over for barbecued chicken, potatoes, salad and lemon meringue pie! Yummy!
John H. Farr
Not this boy! Biological hardwiring can kill you dead without awareness. (“Getting along” is not the problem!) If you’re one of the Damaged Ones, remember that it happened for a larger reason… You have to make the connection to a greater love on your own, but it can be done.
I did send her candy… hardwiring is a friggin’ bitch!
asiangrrlMN
Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! And to all the moms out there.
Speaking of moms, the SNL follow-up skit to Dick in a Box is hilarious! However, I would like to say that those talking about it last night FORGOT to mention that Patricia Clarkson was the other mom. Are you kidding me???? Double yum!!!!!
Persia
@lamh31: Women are supposed to be sexual gatekeepers, don’t you realize? When they get raped it means they fell down on the job. Ugh.
Happy mother’s day to all anyway. I got to run to the pharmacy for shingles meds for my mom. Moms; take care of yourselves. It’s good for you and your kids.
Zuzu's Petals
I had a wonderful early celebration with son and wife and baby last week…first class time had by all. They too are celebrating their first Mother’s Day post-utero.
Traveling today, and when I landed in Phoenix there were text messages and a voicemail awaiting me…and finally, we connected by phone. I am lucky, lucky, lucky.
Oh yes, Southwest gave me a free beverage in honor of the day!
Zuzu's Petals
PS, and happy Mother’s Day to all!
YellowJournalism
Happy mother’s day to all the moms and moms-to-be!
Little Dreamer
I don’t have her phone number now that she’s in Hell.
TheOtherMikey
A little late–but here’s Paul Whitehouse (of the Fast Show) on great things about moms (and microwaves):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knYOcaQ-x5o
demimondian
Well, my mom called me…in order to speak to FDDD. I don’t understand — it sounded like I’d forgotten something.
Emma
My husband bought me a new LG chocolate, and, since it is nice phone and my daughter didn’t want me to lose it or break it, she’s bought me a nice lanyard so I can have it around my neck, without being afraid that I’ll leave it at home, or even worse, lose it on a bus. Thank you, Alma!