Two words won't cut it

I have reached a new age of discovery. My mom is right about most things (probably everything but I'm still learning, baby-steps). We talk or text every.single.day. which is the source my pops jealousy. I will call his phone and he may answer, "Hold on. I'll get your mother." On this side of 30...matriculated, ministering and  married; I get it, now and my cup runneth over with "thanks you's". The letters break away because they cannot contain the fullness of this gratuitous phrase.

How cute and gorgeous is she?!

Now don't take her for quiet and passive. That would be your first mistake. This woman was raised on the snowy South-side of Chi-town, Cicero, LaClair's Court; "Beauty" was not it's name. Her sweet face and small waist with ponytails sweeping her thighs as she sat in her classes, unassuming, kind. She is the child of the church, First Church, to be exact. First Church of Deliverance was her sanctuary and she was the princess of this parish. Sweet Mattye B. Thornton with the voice of an angel and the face and demeanor to match. She would never tell a soul how hard times where at home. The roar of her belly often ignored, she protected the plight of her parents and their flock of five. Complaining was not her modus opperendei.

Lil Mattye B. didn't know that at 19 she would become a  nurse who specialized in rehabilitating soldiers who lost themselves on the battlefield. Hers is the voice that soothed my dad's disquieted soul. 43 years later and my father still tears up when he thinks of how she saved him. What a wife she is! I witnessed it and I have no reason for hyperbole. This is a woman who cherishes, values and esteems her man both privately and publicly. She loves him like a schoolboy loves cake. I have never heard one ill-epithet escape her lips. Not once. Not even in jest. I never heard them yell at one another in anger. She was a porter of peace. Her faith, a harbinger of hope for our family. And her character isn't a was-ness, it is an is-ness even after all these years. I wonder, how much sleep did she forfeit to costumes, math problems, pillow-talk and chronic pain? How many times did she budget herself right out of the picture? Countless I'm sure. If you ask her, I owe her nothing. And, unfortunately, there is no reciprocity for Mattye B.

A classic beaut. A humorist. An intercessor. A sports enthusiast. She is the muse for Phylicia...she is my Claire Hanks-Huxtable cooking a 3 course meal after a 16 hour shift with neither a frown or a yawn. See what I mean? My "thank you" has been put to shame...utterly defeated. She is my mom. She is my very best friend and she is so more than the world will ever know her to be.

I know...still cute. She is such a hottie.