I Teach Them How

I found this in a notebook when I was clearing out “stuff”. I wrote this way back in 2007, before I ever started this blog space and when I still drove my four kids around to things and often drove them crazy. Written before I knew how quickly those years of parenting would pass and written, well, during everything that mattered.

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I Teach Them How

by Jane Tawel, 2007

Morning seeps in.

I wake… frayed.

To start the day whole,

I pray.

“Dear God, open my eyes —

literally.”

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I drive.

Tires screeching at cement,

me screeching at other drivers —

“Jesus! Watch out!” —

as if they could hear me.

(Thank God they can’t.)

My children watch me

and catch on –

they are learning —

Life is Stress.

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Move on. Move on.

No time for now.

I teach my children how

to live ahead.

And how to dread,

Time’s screeching stops,

and miss the drops