This way the twig is bent

Monday, August 5th-

Tonight

Son's first football practice with his team

We're excited

Nervous

Get there and realize

Friends are here

No 'home-sick' feeling

As you try to get routine, and introductions

I'm glad

I plan to use this practice time for miles

But tonight I'm slow to start 

It's worth the chatty visit and banter 

I'm a football mom now- 

And these moms are going to be fun

I finally head out for the trails

Beautiful night

Cool crisp New Mexico sky

Silhouetted trees at every turn

Breathtaking 

Phone rings,

It's my mom

Got to take it

She's happy

Needing tech advice

And as much as I want to be

I'm not her helpful call center service gal tonight

Can't help

It's ok

We chat a bit more

And as we do

My eyes are drawn to the branches

Each their own

I'm a walker now

Running takes a back seat

A poem learned when younger

Plays with my memory

Bits and pieces of it 

The feel of it

Comes to me

Only I'm older now,

And thinking of my own littles

Makes it poignant 

I want this for my children

I see it slowly happening

Only it seems too soon

Not sure I could be so graceful

As my mother 

Watching me become my own

I head home 

Look up the words

Here it is:

Offspring

By Naomi Long Madgett

"I tried to tell her: 
This way the twig is bent. 

Born of my trunk and strengthened by my roots, 
You must stretch newgrown branches 
Closer to the sun 
Than I can reach. 
I wanted to say: 
Extend my self to that far atmosphere 
Only my dreams allow.

But the twig broke, 
And yesterday I saw her 
Walking down an unfamiliar street, 
Feet confident, 
Face slanted upward toward a threatening sky, 

And 
She was smiling 
And she was 
Her very free, 
Her very individual, 
Unpliable 
Own."