You know, most people look through their wallets or their pocketbooks,
and way down at the bottom, past the credit cards and the baby pictures and the green stamps,
you can usually find a little old dog-eared piece of poetry of some kind.
And I was cleaning out my wallet the other day,
and I ran across a whole bunch of IOUs, some of them 30 years overdue.
And the funny thing is that all these IOUs are owed to one person.
And I just kind of thought that maybe now might be a pretty good time for an accounting.
Mom, you listening?
Oh, Mom, I owe you for so many things.
A lot of different services.
Like night watchmen, for instance, for lying awake nights,
listening for coughs, cries, creaking floorboards,
and me coming in too late.
Oh, you had the eye of an eagle and the roar of a lion,
but you always had a heart as big as a house.
I owe you for services as a short-order cook, chef, baker,
for making sirloin out of hamburger,
turkey out of tuna fish,
and big old strapping boys out of leftovers.
I owe you for cleaning services,
for the daily scrubbing,
for the face and ears,
all worked underhand.
And for the frequent dusting of a small boy's pants
to try to make sure that he led a spotless life.
And for washing and ironing that no laundry could ever do.
For drying the tears of childhood
and for ironing out the problems of growing up.
I owe you for services as a bodyguard,
for protecting me from the terrors of thunderstorms
and nightmares and too many green apples.
And Lord knows I owe you for medical attention,
for nursing me through measles, mumps, bruises, bumps,
splinters, and spring fever.
And let's not forget medical advice either.
Oh, no.
Oh, important things like, uh...
If you don't quit scratching that,
it ain't never gonna get well.
And if you cross your eyes,
they're gonna stick like that.
And probably the most important was,
boy, you be sure you've got on clean underwear
in case you're in an accident.
And I owe you for veterinarian service,
for feeding every lost dog
that I dragged home at the end of a rope,
for healing the pains of puppy love.
And I owe you for entertainment.
Entertainment that, uh...
kept the household going
through some pretty tough times.
For wonderful productions of Christmas,
Fourth of July, birthdays.
And for...
somehow making make-believe come true
on a very limited budget.
I owe you for construction work.
For building kites and confidence
and hopes and dreams.
And somehow you made them all touch the sky.
And for cementing together a family
so that it would stand the worst kinds of shocks and blows.
And...
and for laying down a good, strong foundation
to build a life on.
I owe you for carrying charges.
For carrying me on your books
for the necessities of life.
Things that a growing boy just gotta have.
Things like, uh...
a pair of high-top boots
with a little pocket on the side for a jackknife.
And...
and...
and one thing, Mom,
I will never, ever forget.
When there were only two pieces of apple pie
and three hungry people, I...
I noticed that you were always the one
that suddenly decided that, uh...
you really weren't hungry anyhow.
These are just a few of the things
for which payment is long overdue.
The person I owe them to worked very, very cheap.
She managed simply by doing without
a whole lot of things that she needed herself.
My IOUs add up to much more than I could ever, ever hope to repay.
But you know the nicest thing about it all
is that I know that...
she'll mark the whole bill paid in full
for just one kiss...
and four little words.
Mom...
I love you.
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