Mother’s Day Will Be Bittersweet

• Today at 50, I’ve been a mother for almost 20 years
• My grandmother was 50 when I was born, she took me & my sis under her wing at the age of 57 and lived to be 98
• Mother’s Day will be bittersweet
• The parent of a 3-month preemie weighed a mere 2.5 lbs, not sure if he would live or die
• My God is Awesome

• I look in the mirror and see my mother
• Bore but did not raise me
• Died before I really got to know her
• Feared I would have to care for her in her old age
• Grandmother said in order to live a long life you have to treat everybody right and pray

• Mother’s Day will be bittersweet
• Not a friend but a fierce protector and provider
• Mother never saw her grandsons
• A mother of 2 black males – RIP Trayvon
• In the store – keep your hands out of your pockets or they think you are stealing
• Don’t lower your eyes
• Know your history – never forget where you came from
• Work hard
• No fear
• Believe and achieve
• No drinking drugs or wild and crazy women
• Pray every day
• Bless your food
• Be grateful
• Study hard
• Eat your food
• Don’t eat too much candy

• You got an “F”!
• Stop crying 
• You’ll feel better
• Didn’t I tell you
• Now, why did you do that?
• Wait for your brother
• Are you listening to me?
• What did you say!
• I love you
• Here, try this
• Be nice
• Save your money
• Get a job
• Go outside and play
• You have to work 
• Leave him alone
• Say “cheese”
• Come here
• Sit down
• Are you crazy?
• What did you do?
• Buried my father never knew my paternal grandparents 
• I had a brother
• my lil sis is gone
• I’ll never be an aunt

• Mother’s Day will be bittersweet
• Don’t spit that out
• I said, let’s go…now
• Stop it
• Gloria was killed
• Do your homework
• Turn off that tv
• Dinner!
• Have a good day
• God bless you
• How was school today?
• Change your clothes
• Clean your room

• Mother’s Day will be bittersweet
• Get up!
• Make your bed
• breakfast!
• Take out the trash
• Stop it!
• working hard until he graduates from college
• Remembering the fear of his first day on the bus, bigger fear, first day driving alone
• emergency room visits
• months and months in the hospital
• surgeries, feeding tubes, IV’s, Central lines, RSV, NICU, PICU
• what did I do to deserve this
• God, why?
• Teach me how to swim
• can’t breastfeed
• crying all the time
• will this ever end?
• fell off the bike
• pregnant again…fear
• water broke…uh oh
• never got a maternity leave
• Slow down
• Barium Swallows, MRI’s
• McDonald’s ball pit
• Mother’s Day will be bittersweet
• Pediasure, Pedylyte, nebulizer, syringe, pulse ox, nurses
• Pick that up
• Put that back
• don’t play with that
• Leave it alone
• Boy don’t make me come and get you
• I’m an orphan no mother
• Mother’s Day will be bittersweet
• IEPs, Department of Disabilities, nurses and kids, special ed classes, mainstreaming
• Go sit down!
• come here
• Where you going?
• I’ll put the ashes in the coffin with mama…

Mother’s Day will be bittersweet