Friday, January 11, 2013

The House United Will Stand

Lunch with my friend Queenie who is in many ways part of me;
She's the kind of woman who I often wish I could be.
She funny and accomplished, loved and respected;
She's the one who notices when I need to be protected.

She used to see her self as my spiritual adviser,
But this is not the reason that I so very highly prize her.
Her spiritual advice is, to my tastes, too celebration free,
But she constantly celebrates what makes me uniquely me.

We laugh, cry, sing together, and sort of dance;
We even helped each other to find lasting romance.
We've shared our children and shared our homes,
Not caring by which of us each was "owned."

She's semi-retired and finally has the spare time
To share in the memories that invoke The Divine.
We are hoping someday to share another generation
Of her beautiful family, in mutual celebration.

There are three of us amigas on different life paths;
I, even in our youth as usual, lived mine very fast.
The experience we two who are grandmothers await
Is sharing with Queenie new innocence to celebrate.

I plan to sit in a rocker and beam as she basks
In the joy of being a trusted part of parenting tasks.
If she asks for advice, we abuellas have so much to share,
Knowing that she'll understand and honor how we care.

To help committed parents is the greatest of gifts;
We've lost the honor in availability as society shifts.
Even parenting partners sometimes need helping hands;
Consistent values is what strong family demands.

In my experience, it is true that the house divided falls.
Division of men and women, onto parenting, threw a pall.
In rural society, many share all work toward the same goal;
Pulling together on the same clear path keeps The Spirit whole.

Should all families have mission statements and job descriptions?
A goal never defined and set cannot ever come to fruition.
Marriage based on animal attraction can only become sacred
By defining our and common goals, becoming spiritually naked.

Innocent souls deserve the protection of responsible community
Patrolling the perimeter to keep our children predator free.
In this day of global values entering into our sacred homes,
We can't protect our children's souls by simply casting stones.

We must remain diligent for any signs of spiritual danger,
As were the earthly guardians of the child born in the manger.
A parent without committed partners can rarely succeed;
One parent can't have all the resources to fill all a child's need.

Blood cannot be thicker than values that are passed on;
Parents are the conduits of the gifts that The Holy Spirit spawns.
Our free wills give us the right to shun even our own parents
If they subvert the sacred mission that, in our children, we are sent.

I'll not honor an earthly father or mother teaching my children wrong;
For this I have been shunned by the religion to which I did belong.
My parents were not given birth by me, they were not my sacred duty.
That others wanted them to come first was not my responsibility.

I always knew my children were lent to me, for me to keep safe;
I always knew that my boundaries would cause them to chaff.
I knew there may come a time when they would turn away from me
As they tired of hearing about the dangers that only I could see.

I hope that I can remain, in some circles, a respected elder.
I worked for this since my daughter first cried and I held her.
Before my son was born, I knew that this was a life-long mission;
I pray I'll have new opportunity to support parental decisions.