Friday, April 30, 2010

Reaping and Sowing



I remember the first time I heard the “Cats in the Cradle” song. At the end I thought, “That’s gonna be you someday, Mom. The second half of the song. Where the son doesn't have time for the father 'cause the father never had time for the son.”
            See, my mom hasn’t figured it out yet, but she’s reaping what she sowed. As far back as I can remember, she was pushing me out of the nest.
            “Here’s how you braid your hair. Now you can do it yourself every morning.” “This is the way you do laundry. Now you can do your own every Saturday.”
            What was I, six? Seven?

When I graduated college, she said, “Go out and make something of yourself, and take these boxes with you.”
           You got what you wanted, Mom. You made me in-de-pen-dent, like the dentist elf in the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Christmas special.

Funny how time changes things. Now that you’re all alone, you want me back. As much as possible. I visit every two weeks, but you say it’s not enough. You think my family’s too busy, but I think you don’t remember what it’s like to have one. You want what I can’t give—more of me. I want what you won’t give—an apology.
          I’ve got good news for you, Mom. It just occurred to me that someday I’m gonna reap what I sow. That’s why I’ve decided I’m gonna try a little bit harder to give you a little bit more. Of me.

13 comments:

Pam Andrews Hanson said...

Looking forward to hearing you read this.

writingdianet said...

It's so short. That amazes me. But it got the job done I think.

Anonymous said...

Ditto.
Short and to the point.
Best work is sometimes brief.
That's one reason I like poetry.
The ideas floating around the negative space, the meaning behind the words are so profound.

writingdianet said...

The audio version of this post airs next Sunday--Mother's Day. I'll put a link on here then. Eeeek:o

writingdianet said...

Howdy everyone who is coming over from WriteOnEdge. Welcome to my humble ablogbode. So glad you're here:)
Soon, soon I will get my W.O.E. button on here. I sure hope it's easy to do 'cause I'm pretty much a techno fail.

Jen Has A Pen said...

This is such a great lesson (and well written, btw). I was reading it wishing you didn't have these ill feelings toward your mom, and in the end, I think you've experienced great redemption. You are taking the high road, and isn't that weird when we/you are more mature than your mother? Good for you!

Sara said...

The way you used the song as a backdrop to this story lesson was excellent.

I also liked the ending. As I said at another site. Story happy ending seem to have become passe, but I really like them!

You also did a very good job of presenting the daughter's anger, as well as the mom's pushing her out.

This a nice line, "You want what I can’t give—more of me. I want what you won’t give—an apology." Simple, but concise.

I have a question: Why do you indent some paragraphs, but not others? Does that have to do with the techie site of your blog?

I can't indent on mine. I haven't figured out how to do it in Thesis, my WordPress theme. It drives me batty when I do dialogue!

This was a very read. Thanks for sharing it!

writingdianet said...

Jen and Sara: Thank you so much for your sugar this morning:) I have a RAGING (writer's) sweet tooth. Do we all?

@Sarah: I had a writing teacher tell me to always make the first paragraph of a scene change flush left. This is a visual cue to the reader that indicates "we're someplace else now." I've had a number of people question it so I threw it back to my writing teacher. He said, "Open a book that was published recently. See what they do." He was right. That's why I do what I do:)

How do I do it? I OFTEN compose in a MW doc and then copy and paste it into my blog. However, I have no idea how to accomplish it on Wordpress. Sorry!

Kir said...

it's so honest and to the point, so raw almost as if you can hear her telling her mom these things.

I like the way that you wove Cats in the Cradle in, to evoke the feelings each one of us that knows that song emit when we hear it, the words matched the song.

idiosyncratic eye said...

This is really personal so thank you for sharing, I think you describe the complexities of mother-daughter relationships so well. :)

le Chef said...

Great way of combining such a soothing melody into a less than smooth relationship. The words make all the difference, dontcha thin?

writingdianet said...

Thank you IdioEye and IeChef for stopping by!
I've been away this weekend. Now I get to go READ everyone else's pieces. Yay me:)

Nancy C said...

I think this fits together like a puzzle. And I, too, am impressed that you're taking the high road AND recognizing every angle of the "reap what you sow" adage.

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