Patrick Jones
Bio
I am a musician and music teacher. I have loved and written poetry since middle school. Favorite poets include: Gwendolyn Brooks, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and James Merrill. I live with my husband, cat, and dog in Memphis, TN.
Stories (4/0)
Just Keep Going
I cannot think of the last time I saw my mother cry. I'm probing my mind, going 5, 10, 20 years back, and I don't remember one instance in which my mother shed a tear. Loved ones have come and gone from our lives, milestones have been reached, and failures have been experienced, but, through it all, I remember my mother being that unsinkable boat that kept us all afloat amidst a tumultuous sea of emotion. One day, I asked my mother why she didn't cry. She sighed, seemed to collect her thoughts, and then explained that she felt she had cried all the tears she could ever hope to cry after my brother was killed. There was a car accident that occurred a few years before I was born, and, I can't say for sure, but can only imagine it was the single most defining point in my mother's life. "Such an event can make or break you," she would say. You can choose to drown in the ocean of overwhelming grief, battered by every single wave sent your way, or you can choose to keep your head up, riding each crest until settling in calm waters for what you hope will be an extended period of time. Every single day of her life, she has chosen to ride. She has chosen to ride for her husband, for her remaining children, and for herself.
By Patrick Jones3 years ago in Families
Can You Explain This To Me?
"Can you explain this to me?" My mother's voice was deliberate and her choice of words concise. That was how I knew she meant business. "What do you mean?" I asked, but I knew what she was talking about. By the ripe age of 14, I had already become adept at feigning ignorance in an attempt to stall so that I could come up with a believable response to any situation in which I thought it best not to tell my parents the truth.
By Patrick Jones3 years ago in Humans
