This is a truly BEAUTIFUL piece. Please read this
at a slow pace, digesting every word and in leisure...
do not hurry....this is a treasure...

For those lucky to still be blessed with your Mom,
this is beautiful. For those of us who aren't,
this is even more beautiful. For those
who are moms, you'll love this.

The young mother set her foot on the path of life.
"Is this the long way?" she asked. And the guide said:
"Yes, and the way is hard. And you will be old before
you reach the end of it. But the end will be better
than the beginning."

But the young mother was happy, and she would not believe
that anything could be better than these years. So she
played with her children, and gathered flowers for them
along the way, and bathed them in the clear streams;
and the sun shone on them, and the young Mother cried,
"Nothing will ever be lovelier than this."

Then the night came, and the storm, and the path was dark,
and the children shook with fear and cold, and the mother
drew them close and covered them with her mantle,
and the children said, "Mother, we are not afraid,
for you are near, and no harm can come.

And the morning came, and there was a hill ahead,
and the children climbed and grew weary, and the mother
was weary. But at all times she said to the children,
"A little patience and we are there."

So the children climbed, and when they reached the top.
they said, "Mother, we would not have done it without you."

And the mother, when she lay down at night looked up
at the stars and said, "This is a better day than
the last, for my children have learned fortitude in
the face of hardness. Yesterday I gave them courage.
Today, I've given them strength."

And the next day came strange clouds which darkened
the earth, clouds of war and hate and evil, and
the children groped and stumbled, and the mother said:
"Look up. Lift your eyes to the light." And the children
looked and saw above the clouds an everlasting glory,
and it guided them beyond the darkness. And that night
the Mother said, "This is the best day of all,
for I have shown my children God."

And the days went on, and the weeks and the months
and the years, and the mother grew old and she was
little and bent. But her children were tall and strong,
and walked with courage. And when the way was rough,
they lifted her, for she was as light as a feather;
and at last they came to a hill, and beyond they could
see a shining road and golden gates flung wide.
And mother said, "I have reached the end of my journey.
And now I know the end is better than the beginning,
for my children can walk alone,
and their children after them."

And the children said, "You will always walk with us,
Mother, even when you have gone through the gates."
And they stood and watched her as she went on alone,
and the gates closed after her. And they said:
"We cannot see her but she is with us still.
A Mother like ours is more than a memory.
She is a living presence......."

Your Mother is always with you.... She's the whisper
of the leaves as you walk down the street; she's the
smell of bleach in your freshly laundered socks; she's
the cool hand on your brow when you're not well.
Your Mother lives inside your laughter. And she's
crystallized in every tear drop. She's the place
you came from, your first home; and she's the map
you follow with every step you take. She's your
first love and your first heartbreak, and nothing
on earth can separate you. Not time, not space...
not even death!