by Cindy Walker Burton

Just when you’ve think you have not been influenced or affected by your mother’s words, she is envoked through your daily dialogue. Quite unexpectedly, her pithy proverbs, ageless axioms, amiable anecdotes, preachy platitudes, or motherly maxims escape from your lips and gush out of your mouth. After all, you are your mother’s child. When you were born, your mother was also born: she existed as a woman, but now she’s born as a new mother. Her words will be inextricably woven throughout the fabric of your life. From the moment she first saw you, she was lavishing you with lambent love, lilting lullabies, and lyrical language.

I still remember (and involuntarily say) some of my beloved late mother’s insightful words: Save for a rainy day. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger. Beauty is only skin deep. It’s not the end of the world. Always take the high road. You can’t please everyone all the time. No one said life is fair. Do your best. Don’t be a door mat. Never judge a book by its cover. You can always come home. Don’t look back. Honor your father and mother. Don’t be a quitter. Always send a thank you note. Tell the truth. Say your prayers.

Listen and pay attention to what your mother says. Listen … because one day you won’t have the luxury of hearing her voice; only memories will remain. And those are words to live by.