Steve hits a home run with this piece. OUCH – and a good laugh.

Verse – “Of the Dead”

De mortuis nihil nisi bonum.

Of the dead speak nothing but good.

…

As the family gathered

after my mother’s death,

of course we told stories.

…

My three younger brothers

did not seem to recall

what most disgusted me

about Mom in our youth.

…

On the phone, she would smile

and say in a sweet voice,

“Good-bye then…see you in church,”

hang-up, and then yell at me,

“Shut-up, when I’m on the phone!

Stop fighting!  You boys drive me crazy!”

…

Then, RING, and “Hello, there…”

in the sweetest low voice/ imaginable.

…..     …     …     …     …

I had been wanting to play

a CD of clever church songs

for my two unchurched grand-kids,

and as I dropped their father off

to  get his repaired car,

I hit the PLAY button, stepped around

to the driver’s seat, heard them yelling

at each other, smashed the OFF button,

and heard myself out-yell them,

“Shut up!  Stop fighting!

You kids are driving me crazy!”

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, Illinois, July 7, 2012