Mama Said...

We didn't live in a fancy place, but my mama said that didn't much matter.  She said it was our path in life that counted most.  And from the path we chose, would come acceptance of ourselves and of the world we live in. 

I believed that because my mama always woke us up singing and smiling as she called us to breakfast.  No matter how hard she worked at the cafe to support me and my brother she always had a lot of love for us and that alone made us happy.  

At night she would get out the Bible and read out loud to us saying that these words would always be true to us, not like some words we might read in newspapers or magazines.

You see, my mama raised my brother and me all by herself and she didn't have fancy dresses or shoes or the finer things in life.  But she said that did not really make the person.  It was all how you looked at it, she would say.  It isn't the pretty dress that people notice, she'd tell me, but the person in that dress and the smile on their face.  She said that they would remember the smile long after they would remember the color of dress I wore.

Mama always said God would take care of everything.  She said that people would come in and out of our lives and that it was the good parts of them that we'd take with us that made us grow in this world we live in.  I guess that must be true because she always wrote down people's little sayings in that book.  She called it a journal and she said that every time someone said something kind or something that she liked, she wrote it down.  Sometimes after reading the good words from the Bible, she'd get that book out and read those words to me and my brother.  The words sounded like a soothing song when mama read them to us.

I pretty much wanted to live my life on mama's words and joy.  She taught me and my brother a lot before her time came.  You see, my mama got sick and died not long ago.  I sure miss my mama.  I sit and talk to her and when I need to hear her words, I get out that journal book and read the kind words out loud to her.  I know God will let her hear those words because a lot of them are the same good words that she read to us from the Bible.  

Yes, my mama was a good woman and I hope that someday I'll raise my kids just like she raised me and my brother.  And, mama, I will always try to keep a smile on my face just for you.  

I love you, mama.

Mama Said...by Karen Sarnecki, ©2004