Come Home

(published WOVEN ON THE WIND Houghton Mifflin 2001)

"No matter what you ever do, I'll always love you." I don't know if my mother ever actually said these words, but I knew that was how much she loved me.

I knew it most when I was 22, expecting a baby and unmarried. What I had done would be such a disappointment to my parents. My mother said "Come home." I went home and sat on the end of her bed. Mother asked me, "What do you want to do?" I didn't know what to do. My mother's feelings were expressed in a single statement, "I couldn't bear to think of my grandchild being raised by strangers. We'll work something out." And we did.

My daughter and I lived with my parents on their ranch for almost seven years. My mother never once judged me. She gave me unconditional love. She was never embarrassed that I was a single mother. My mother showed her greatest love, compassion and wisdom by saying, "Come home". She gave me the most precious gift, my daughter.

And Jenny! My mother paved the way for a bright and beautiful little girl to grow up happy and secure. She helped me to raise a baby to become a loving, sensitive young woman. Now I can say to her, "No matter what you ever do, I'll always love you."