Grandma's Back Porch - Happy Mother's Day

Sorry this took forever to post. I had it written in January, but Chuuk internet connections are not quite the most reliable. Enjoy.

Grandma’s Back Porch
By Stephanie Osborne, 2009

The swift breeze blew past my face. The current rolled past me.
Wisps of hair tickled my cheek. The rays of sun blinded me.
There was a rumble in the distance,
A jagged white line of crashing waves.
I walked slowly, feeling the dense, sharp coral below my feet.
The waters became stronger, knocking my legs off balance.
I looked down and between my feet sat a beautiful cowry shell.
It was more beautiful than any other shell I had ever found on the shore,
With its white background and dark speckles, polished and smooth,
Like the kind you find in a store.
It reminded me of the shiny cowry that used to sit on my Grandma’s back porch.
I know I was smiling. I picked it up, feeling special.
As I turned to show it to my friend, the wave knocked me.
The perfect cowry slipped between my fingers and fell,
Back into the reef below my feet.
I panicked. Hunting for it, the waves knocked me into the reef.
It was gone, camouflaged within the earth tones beneath me.
I walked away disappointed.
As I walked along the sands the next morning, the reef surprised me.
There it was.
Its brown and white speckled back slightly emerging from the dried out sand-
Polished and perfect.
I picked it up, held it tightly in my hand,
And thought, “Mom will love this.”

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!
I know this isn’t the first Mother’s Day I haven’t been home to celebrate with you, but hopefully you can feel my love and appreciation for you as much this year as any other. The shell in the package is the one from the poem. It is not only the most beautiful shell I have found in Micronesia, but it also holds sentimental meaning. Maybe it will even remind you of the cowry shell your mother kept on her back porch, also. That’s why it was so special to me when I found it back in December. She was the first person I thought of and then it became very obvious whom I would save it for – you. Happy Mother’s Day to you both. I love you.

To Mom, Aunt Caroline, Monica, Jenn, Aimee, Aunt Anne, Aunt Rhonda, Aunt Deborah, Josie, Sandy, Nana, Aunt Sally, Aunt Sue, Aunt Linda, Aunt Colleen, Ms. Hanlon, Ms. Cindy, Marcia, Gayle, Wendy, Donna, and Diane, and any other Mom out there, I wish you a happy and relaxing day. You are the unsung heroines of our world.