Gladys. She rocks my world. She blesses my day, my week and my life in more ways than just making sure I can come home once a week to a house not in disarray.
She loves with wild abandon, she mothers me when I need it, and loves my child like her own. She keeps me sane, and holds my hand when I cry. And, trust me, she’s seen me cry – on a particularly bad day last year, she was the only person I’d let into my home at one point. I had a lot to cry about that day.
And yet, she with her burdens, she with her life and her grace, hard-won, pointed towards every day. She refuses to give up. She does as she believes is right. I have nothing but ultimate respect for her love and peace. I have no idea how she does it.
This I wrote for Gladys:
In My House Today
There were mothers in my house today.
Mothering each other, mothering me.
There were gourmet chefs in my house today.
Cooking feasts for families and feeding their souls.
There were cleaners in my house today.
Scrubbing floors and shining things ‘til the sun beamed back at them .
There were lovers in my house today.
Growing love, reaping love, sowing love.
There were wives in my house today,
Being the best partners they could to men without feet or feeling.
There were angels in my house today,
Imbued with strong wings and kisses that could cure any ill.
There were water bearers in my house today,
Carrying the river of life through another day.
There were activists in my house today,
Screaming for their children’s freedom.
There were builders in my house today,
Laying bricks and paving roads.
There were child bearers and rearers in my house today,
Wiping the noses and soothing our future to sleep.
There were survivors in my house today,
Standing strong before demons who could toss them aside like litter..
And they say.
They say.
They say there were only women in my house today.
But I say.
I say.
The world revolves around my house today.