Mom Knows Best

While daddy had a strong 

      work-outside-the-home ethic

      sometimes two jobs

it was our stay-at-home-mom’s commitment 

     I was most inspired by 

     her raising seven kids   

     supper at five.

That summer in the late 80s 

     maybe it was the need for more money 

she got a job as city secretary

     in a small west Texas town, population 300. 

When we went to the family reunion

& walked to the one-block downtown

into a small office

she sat at her desk

attentive 

hands folded on top.  

Mom!  What are you doing?

She quit the next week.