No Regrets

She quickly turned the sizzling pork in the pan,
And remembered a time or two when the pop of the grease,
Was faster than her hands.
"Well now," She muttered, "that's good for a spell."
And down she sat in her overstuffed chair,
Next to the table with her sewing box on top.
She had buttons to sew back on and a rip or two to mend.
And as the pork sizzled and simmered in the pan,
And filled the house with the smell of good cooking,
And as the TV glowed and filled the room with news,
She turned to her sewing, after turning on the lamp.
The room filled with a familiar golden glow of light,
And she flipped her thread holder open to match colors to cloth.
She did the same thing, almost every day, and never tired.
She never tired of the smell of her cooking or her kitchen.
She never tired of the mundane things she did,
To keep her family fit and running smooth.
She never tired of breaking up the girls from fussing at each other,
And she never tired of her man's and sons' masculine ways.
She never got tired of the things that grew all around the house,
And seemed to need her constant care and attention.
She never tired of coming home, to a house that needed painting,
Or the stack of bills that she thought would never get caught up.
She was not the happiest woman in the world, by any means.
But she sat there in her overstuffed chair,
Before the rest of her family came straggling home,
And her eyes wandered around the room and the view outside.
And she thought, "I may not have the life of no fancy queen."
"But I got to admit, I got not one regret about the life I got."
And about that time her man came banging in the door,
And planted a kiss on top of her head as he headed for his shower.
And kids came stomping in soon after, fussing and aggravating…
And she smiled inside of herself, from the comfort of her familiar life.
And she thought once more, "Nope, I got no regrets about the life I got."
And then she went and finished getting the supper on.
Cuz it was dinnertime, and probably her favorite time of day,
Cuz her, and her family, would sit together and smile, and laugh and talk and share…
and love each other…
July 7, 2004