She said, "Mom"

I didn’t get the “Spring Cleaning” memo this year. Or maybe I did. It’s probably in one of these heaps of endless paperwork and mounds of mail. So here I am the first few days of my summer vacation taking on this daunting task!

You know the piles: shred, file, trash, trash, and more trash!

Quite time consuming.

Time I could be using to indulge in other relaxing and replenishing summer activities.

Time I could be using to rejuvenate myself before another stressful school year is upon me again.

Time to notice my daughter Yaleska holding a picture of me that she found in one of the piles.

She held the picture for a few moments then gently pulled it close to her face. She touched it, smiled and laughed.

I held on to that moment, pulled it close to my heart, smiled and cried.

Happy tears, tears of joy, tears of “time”.

It’s times like this when again I am reminded she is not able to verbally call me “Mom”. I am not able to hear that precious expression coming from her lips. But as she looked at my face in the picture, held it, stroked it, and smiled I heard “Mom” through her laughter. Not audibly, not spoken, but expressive from her heart.

She knew that was me! Her mother.

"That’s my Mom! She is Mommy! She is my Mother!"

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but today it was worth only one. The only one that matters…MOM!

Back to the piles: shred, file, trash, and forever treasure!

I have called you by name; you are mine. Isaiah 43:1