Mother's Day Trip to Kansas City - Day Four

May Crowning

I went to Mass with Anola at St. Therese The Little Flower Church, her long time home church.  As usual there was a lot going on in this energetic and racially diverse parish.  We happened to catch a procession of children with flowers to place in front of the statue of Mary.  The ceremony culminated with placing a crown on her head.  The little girl who placed it had some difficulty getting it straight and thus Mary spent the rest of Mass looking out at us in either a somewhat disheveled state or with a bit of rakish swagger.  Take your pick.

After Mass I picked up Louisa and along with Mom joined Peter, Anola, and Bob for lunch at Sweet Tomatoes, another one of Mom's favorite places.  Mary joined us back at Mom's apartment for dessert.

We spent the next couple of hours with the mother of whom we are all so proud and fond.  Our two out of town brothers, Tom and Terry, called to wish her happy Mother's Day.  

A couple of years ago she began writing poetry.  This spring an annual volume of poetry by local poets was dedicated to her and included two of her poems.  This is one of them.

I'm Really Not That Old

When I am old, I will wear purple,

As the saying goes.

But the many shades of purple

Present a lot of woes.

I'm not an artist, never was

And find the going rough.

To make the color that I want

Is really very tough.

I think you take vibrant red

And a touch of blue,

But when you mix the whole thing up,

It really, really isn't you.

So I put my palette down

And turn to things I know.

To solve the problem of my choice

I life my head and raise my voice:

I really don't like purple!

Could it be that I'm so bold

That I don't like purple

Because I'm really not that old?