“
This is an ode to all of those that have never asked for one.
A thank you in words to all of those that do not do
what they do so well for the thanking.
This is to the mothers.
This is to the ones who match our first scream
with their loudest scream; who harmonize in our shared pain
and joy and terrified wonder when life begins.
This is to the mothers.
To the ones who stay up late and wake up early and always know
the distance between their soft humming song and our tired ears.
To the lips that find their way to our foreheads and know,
somehow always know, if too much heat is living in our skin.
To the hands that spread the jam on the bread and the mesmerizing
patient removal of the crust we just cannot stomach.
This is to the mothers.
To the ones who shout the loudest and fight the hardest and sacrifice
the most to keep the smiles glued to our faces and the magic
spinning through our days. To the pride they have for us
that cannot fit inside after all they have endured.
To the leaking of it out their eyes and onto the backs of their
hands, to the trails of makeup left behind as they smile
through those tears and somehow always manage a laugh.
This is to the patience and perseverance and unyielding promise
that at any moment they would give up their lives to protect ours.
This is to the mothers.
To the single mom’s working four jobs to put the cheese in the mac
and the apple back into the juice so their children, like birds in
a nest, can find food in their mouths and pillows under their heads.
To the dreams put on hold and the complete and total rearrangement
of all priority. This is to the stay-at-home moms and those that
find the energy to go to work every day; to the widows and the
happily married.
To the young mothers and those that deal with the unexpected
announcement of a new arrival far later than they ever anticipated.
This is to the mothers.
This is to the sack lunches and sleepover parties, to the soccer games
and oranges slices at halftime. This is to the hot chocolate
after snowy walks and the arguing with the umpire
at the little league game. To the frosting ofbirthday cakes
and the candles that are always lit on time; to the Easter egg hunts,
the slip-n-slides and the iced tea on summer days.
This is to the ones that show us the way to finding our own way.
To the cutting of the cord, quite literally the first time
and even more painfully and metaphorically the second time around.
To the mothers who become grandmothers and great-grandmothers
and if time is gentle enough, live to see the children of their children
have children of their own. To the love.
My goodness to the love that never stops and comes from somewhere
only mothers have seen and know the secret location of.
To the love that grows stronger as their hands grow weaker
and the spread of jam becomes slower and the Easter eggs get easier
to find and sack lunches no longer need making.
This is to the way the tears look falling from the smile lines
around their eyes and the mascara that just might always be
smeared with the remains of their pride for all they have created.
This is to the mothers.
”
”
Tyler Knott Gregson
“
Never mind that it’s wetter than a Slip’N Slide in my panties right now.
”
”
Leisa Rayven (Bad Romeo (Starcrossed, #1))
“
Here's the problem: when every sin is seen as the same, we are less likely to fight any sins at all. Why should I stop sleeping with my girlfriend when there will still be lust in my heart? Why pursue holiness when even one sin in my life means I'm Osama bin Hitler in God's eyes? Again, it seems humble to act as if no sin is worse than another, but we lose the impetus for striving and the ability to hold each other accountable when we tumble down the slip-n-slide of moral equivalence. All of a sudden the elder who battles the temptation to take a second look at the racy section of the Lands End catalog shouldn't dare exercise church discipline ont he young man fornicating with reckless abandon. When we can no longer see the different gradations among sins and sinners and sinful nations, we have not succeeded in respecting our own badness; we've cheapened God's goodness.
”
”
Kevin DeYoung (What is the Mission of the Church?: Making sense of social justice, Shalom and the Great Commission)
“
Some rules have existed since the creation of the Earth. They do not need to come out of my mouth. They have always existed. There has always been a rule against using a Slip n’ Slide indoors. There has always been a rule against lying down in the mouth of a dead relative.
”
”
Bradley Sands (Liquid Status)
“
screaming as they squeal down a Slip’n Slide
”
”
Jodi Picoult (Leaving Time)
“
it also helped that they were amazing at
butt sex. Seriously. The first time had been
a bit of a disaster waaaay too much lube,
so much so that it'd been like a human Slip
'N Slide but every time after? Holy shit,
they should've gotten awards for some of
the stuff they did. Seth could be very
imaginative. Nick felt bad for the people
who couldn't have sex while flying. It was
really somethinq else.
”
”
T.J. Klune (Heat Wave (The Extraordinaries, #3))
“
Here in Texas, that’s not how it works. When we threw ourselves on Slip’N Slides, we were met with a bone-crushingly hard ground that was sparsely covered by grass that had the consistency of old hay. As we slid down the yellow tarp for our three seconds of fun, we’d experience the familiar explosions of pain when previously undiscovered rocks or sticks jabbed into our internal organs. Then we’d slide off the end into fire ants.
”
”
Jennifer Fulwiler (Like Living Among Scorpions: One Woman's Quest to Survive Her Suburban Life)
“
It didn’t matter that I swept up clouds of brindle fur in my apartment and scraped dried dog drool off my walls every night, or once went to work with slobber in my hair. It didn’t matter that her number twos were so large someone once told me they needed their own zip code, that my apartment turned into a Slip’n Slide every time she drank water, or that she wasn’t the neatest eater, so sometimes I’d step on half-chewed food and it felt like mashed potatoes in between my toes.
”
”
Lauren Fern Watt (Gizelle's Bucket List: My Life with a Very Large Dog)
“
I never been to New York, but it must be a heavenly place for a vacation, if a feller c'n judge by what some of my present boarders have to say about it. It's a sort of play-actor's paradise, ain't it?" "It is paradise to every actor who happens to be on the road, Mr. Jones," said Barnes, slipping his big pack from his shoulders and letting it slide to the floor.
”
”
George Barr McCutcheon (Green Fancy)
“
I’m slick as a Slip ’N Slide down there. And should he feel so inclined to eat ass, nary a hair survived that Brutal Brunhilda wax-a-thon I endured on all fours at the spa. I’m ready for anything. I’ve practically been
”
”
Kennedy Ryan (Reel (Hollywood Renaissance #1))
“
Everything here was larger than life. Forty-foot walls, human pyramids with no training, slip
n’ slides that rocketed down an entire hill into a lake. Nothing was halfway. Maybe that was
part of their lesson. Don’t live halfway.
-Andy and the Extroverts
”
”
Jessica K. Foster (Andy and the Extroverts (Andy and the Extroverts, #1))
“
On that note, would you like to come inside and ride my Slip ‘n’ Slide, Henny?
”
”
Lauren Rowe (Hacker in Love)