Dedication

Just a few days away now from the Bayshore Marathon, my first marathon since 2016. Training is done and all that is left is to run a few easy miles, try not to forget to pack everything, and keep checking the weather every 5 minutes. :)

There is always so much uncertainty in a race but definitely amplified for this distance. I will have family for support that is without question a force that will help me when the going gets tough.

Lately I have been thinking about my mom often, how she supported me when she saw my passion running as a child and even tried to get me coaching when it simply wasn't available where we lived. I think how I wish I could do the impossible and tell her only now can I appreciate what I had, a mother who always loved me and never let me doubt who I was or what I could do.

I can hear her voice now, calling me "Ricky" as I was known as a kid, telling me I can do this. I can see her face and feel her presence and know too I will see her in my mind and heart as I take to the starting line. And remember.

*******

If There Are Any Heavens

if there are any heavens my mother will(all by herself)have

one.   It will not be a pansy heaven nor

a fragile heaven of lilies-of-the-valley but

it will be a heaven of blackred roses

 

my father will be(deep like a rose

tall like a rose)

 

standing near my

 

swaying over her

(silent)

with eyes which are really petals and see

 

nothing with the face of a poet really which

is a flower and not a face with

hands

which whisper

This is my beloved my

 

        (suddenly in sunlight

 

he will bow,

 

&the whole garden will bow)

                                                                 - e.e. cummings

Mom and Me
Hannibal MO October 1, 2007