Once in a lullaby
Happy Mother's Day!
I have been singing “Over The Rainbow” to the girls every night before bed and Yasmeen recently asked me who sang it. I told her Judy Garland and she said, “Judy Garland made the best song.” I agreed. I have spent five years singing to her, two and a half years singing to Sana. I did not realize how much of parenting would be trying to preserve every moment or how much it would hurt knowing they won’t remember what I remember. Afternoons lying on our quilt in the grass. The way Yasmeen once pronounced banana. Sana asleep with a baseball she won’t let us take out of her bed. Every ballad of a wish or a dream or a forever. When I sing “Over The Rainbow” I think of all the longing in the world. I think of my darling daughters and everything they do not yet know. We went to the beach last week to celebrate my birthday and Yasmeen’s birthday. On the drive down I told my mom I still remembered the lullaby she sang to me when I was little and recited it from memory. She informed me it was a Fleetwood Mac song, which I did not realize and had never learned. (I, for some reason, thought she made it up for my enjoyment.) And still, out of nowhere, it was available to me. Stored safely. Today I am celebrating the women in my life who mothered me, who showered me with love, who wanted only good things to come my way. I can still hear you singing or laughing when I am all alone. It is the best song.
Wish you were here,
Elizabeth
