May Your Song Always Be Sung

In 1999, my daughter’s third grade class hosted a Mother’s Day Tea. Each child had to select and memorize a poem to recite. There was a minimum number of lines required. My firstborn looked through an old book we had and found a nautical poem that she practiced reciting. On the day of the tea, I zipped in from running errands in sneakers, a bright cotton shirt, and overall shorts. Did I feel underdressed! It had never occurred to me to ask the other moms about what to wear. The third graders served their mothers a cookie on a plate and sat with us. My daughter recited her poem while I struggled not to scream as nearly every boy recited some ghastly Shel Silverstein ditty. I knew that my son would want to take this route in two years. Sure enough, he came home wanting to recite the bare minimum of that ‘poet’. Instead, I talked him into reciting Bob Dylan’s Forever Young. He did a great job and I wore an appropriate spring dress with sandals.

PS This was the song chose for the mother/son dance at his wedding.

— KathyV