Love this Poem by Karen Kingsbury

In 2009 I was introduced to Karen Kingsbury books...and I fell in love with them.  She usually writes series of books but does have quite a few single novels as well.   The first series I read was the Redemption series...I fell in love with the Baxter family and as soon as I put one book down I was ready to pick up the next one because I had to know what was going to happen.  I am now reading the second book in the Bailey Flannigan Series called Learning.  The first was Leaving...so Leaving, Learning and the last will be Longing.  Bailey Flannigan was a character from another series called "Fame" which had five books.  I love how she starts another series from a character of a past series because the characters endear themselves to you and you want to know what happens to them.

Back to the first series I read...I actually bought the second book of the series without knowing it so I had to go back and read the first and then the third, fourth and fifth! I couldn't put them down...the second book was called "Remember" and at the time I was working at the nursing home in the Alzheimer unit.  This book touched me because one of the characters worked at a nursing home in the Alzheimer unit and her stories with the residents hit home.  The five books in the series are: Redemption, Remember, Return, Rejoice and Reunion.  LOVED this series!

Karen Kingsbury is a Christian based writer but writes about everyday people/families that have flaws and secrets like all families do....she will put some scripture into the stories as it pertains to the characters and what they are going through in their lives...her stories touch on so many things as well that some/most of us have gone through.

The point to this diatribe was to post a poem that she wrote in one of the books.  It was from a mother to her son the day he was to be married.  It touched me as well because at the time it was Shelby's senior year and a year of many "lasts" for me as her mother.  I shed a tear when I read this poem.

"Long ago you came to me, a miracle of firsts.
First smiles and teeth and baby steps, a sunbeam on the burst.
But one day you will move away and leave to me your past,
And I will be left thinking of a lifetime of your lasts.

 The last time that I held a bottle to your baby lips...
Last time that I lifted you and held you on my hip...
Last time when you had a binky stuck inside your mouth...
The last time that you crawled across the floor of this old house.

Last time when you ran to me, still small enough to hold,
Last time when you said you'd marry me when you grew old.
Precious, simple moments and bright flashes from the past,
Would I have held you longer if I'd known they were the last?

Your last few hours of kindergarten, last days of first grade...
Last at bat in Little League, last colored paper made..
Last time that I tucked you in for one last midday nap...
Last time when you wore your beat-up Green Bay Packers cap. 

Last time you caught a frog in that old backyard pond...
Last time when you ran barefoot across our fresh-cut lawn,
Silly scattered images to represent your past.
Would I have taken pictures...if I'd known they were the last?

The last dark night you slipped in bed and slept between us two,
When last I read to you of God or Horton Hears a Who!
Last time that I smelled your hair and prayed after your shower...
Last time that we held devotions in the evening hours. 

The last time you were M.J. in our games of give-and-go...
Last time that you made an angel in the melting snow.
I never even said good-bye to yesterdays long passed.
Would I have marked the moments...if I'd known they were the last?

Last piano lesson, and last soccer goal you kicked...
The last few weeks of middle school, last flowers that you picked.
Last time that you needed me for rides from here to there...
The last time that you spent the night with that old tattered bear.

Last time that I helped you with a math or spelling test,
Last time when I shouted your room was a mess. 
Time and life moved quicker, taking pieces of your past.
Would I have stretched the moments...if I'd known they were the last?

The last time that you needed help with details of a dance...
Last time that you asked me for advice about romance. 
Last time that you talked to me about your hopes and dreams.
Last time that you wore a jersey for your high school team. 

I watched you grow and never noticed seasons as they passed.
I wish I could've frozen time, to hold on to your lasts.
For come tomorrow morning life will never be the same.
You'll pledge forever to your girl, and she will take your name.

And I will watch you, knowing God has blessed you with this day.
I never would have wanted, Luke, to somehow make you stay. 
They say a son's a son until he takes for him a wife.
You're grown-up now; it's time to go and start your brand new life.

One last hug, one last good-bye, one quick and hurried kiss...
One last time to understand just how much you'll be missed.
I'll watch you leave and think how quickly childhood sped past.
Would I have held on longer....if I'd known it was your last?"


Kingsbury. Pages 209-210