Denise K. Lane

MOTHER’S IN TRAINING

Tonight I sew and press your uniforms,
As I’ve done many times before.
Not Cub Scouts, track or little league,
This time, my son, it’s for war.

All those times were for preparation,
For the time that is now.
Son, all those years just to
Keep you safe was my vow.

While you wear this patriotic uniform,
I’m sure it will keep you warm.
I can’t protect you any longer,
And keep you safe from harm.

So this is what life is,
What we have been training for.
Except the tears and prayers used
When we send our sons to war.

Author’s Note: Mother’s in Training has been published in an anthology and was written at a time that I was preparing my sons uniforms for deployment in the late 1990’s. While I was sewing his Captain’s bars on his uniforms and pressing them, I realized that I had been preparing his uniforms for him since he was a little boy, representing whatever organization he had pledged allegiance, and the ultimate uniform representing our country was now in my hands. I realized that I had been trained for that moment in time.