I wrote this in 1999 - and just came across it today, the day before Mother's Day. it just seems appropriate to share it here!
Get Well, Mom
I am a bike rider. Note that I did not call myself a "cyclist..." I am simply a bike rider with a hot-pink 26" Schwinn that I've had for eleven years. It has 5 speeds and a wide black seat to accommodate my wide sitting equipment. I bike for my physical health, but wherever I ride, I try to notice interesting or beautiful things around me. It's part of my exercise program... to collect fragments of beauty that move my spirit. Sometimes it's a view of magnificent Camelback Mountain... sometimes a billowing white cloud... sometimes a dazzling wild flower by the road. Riding through Papago Park one morning I was delighted to see a jackrabbit and several darting quail. Being aware of my surroundings and finding the hidden beauty improves my mental and spiritual health as much as the movement of my body improves my physical well being.
One of my recent discoveries is a nice older cemetery in East Phoenix, only a block from my home. It is a peaceful place with roads that wind among lush green trees, so I sometimes pass through on my daily ride. On one of my trips through the cemetery I happened to notice a grave with a decoration that said "MOM" in red and white plastic flowers. My mother died when I was only 22, and I instantly felt tears welling up in my eyes as I thought of someone else living without that most important person in their life. After a moment of reflection I continued my ride, and didn't return to the cemetery until a week later, which happened to be the day after Mother's Day. As I passed the "MOM" sign once again, I notice a stick balloon added to the grave, and as I drew closer saw the words "Get Well" printed across the front. My first reaction was to laugh. Wasn't a "Get Well" wish a bit after the fact? It just struck me as funny. But the picture kept "cycling” through my brain all day until I realized that maybe someone had picked that balloon for what was on the side I couldn't see from the road. Maybe it was a picture of a lovely flower for a mother who's passion had been gardening. Maybe the balloon had a cartoon or funny saying for a mother who had loved to laugh; a mother who might even have enjoyed the fact that laughter was my first response. In retrospect I'm sure that the "Get Well" balloon had some message for a mother who was loved. People don't bring signs and balloons to the graves of people they didn't care about. What a legacy... to leave people behind who love you enough to remember that you're gone! No "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" for this mother. I'm guessing this lady was cherished... and even though I will never know her name or her real story, my life is enriched by even the possibility of such love in a world that sometimes seems so loveless.
I don't know what you believe about life after death. I don't know what this mother believed either. But when I think about it, I find it plausible that we can find wholeness wherever our journey leads after this life. Maybe the "Get Well" balloon was not so funny after all. Maybe it was a profoundly spiritual proclamation. Keep on getting well Mom, whoever and wherever you are... and happy Mother’s Day!
