Words to Live By

When I was a young girl, I used to like to clip the advice columns out, especially if they had poems. All little girls like poetry, right? Well, a few of the clippings survived till I reached adulthood and I really do think they're great words to live by as a mother.  The clippings say the authors are unknown on these.

COME IN

Come in, but don't expect to find

All dishes done, all floors ashine.

Observe the crumpled rug, the toys galore

The smudgy fingerprinted door.

The little ones we shelter here

Don't thrive on spotless atmosphere.

They're more inclined to disarray

And carefree, even messy play.

Their needs are great, their patience small

All day I'm at their beck and call.

It's Mommy come, Mommy see

Wiggly worms, red scraped knee.

Painted pictures, blocks piled high

My floors unshined, the days go by.

One day soon they'll flee this nest

And I at last will have a rest.

And which really matters more,

A happy child, or a polished floor?

EXCUSE THIS HOUSE

Some houses try to hide the fact that children shelter there.

Ours boasts of it quite openly, the signs are everywhere

Smears are on the windows, smudges on the doors.

I should apologize, I guess, for the toys strewn on the floor.

But I sat down with the children, and we played and laughed and read,

And if the floors don't shine, their eyes will shine instead.

For when at times I'm forced to choose the one job or the other

I want to be a housewife, but first I'll be a Mother.

Hug your kids. They grow up too fast!

TTFN