My mother’s arms grabbed her suitcase fresh from the Cedar Rapids class of 1941.
Her cheerleader’s uniform left behind
along with days crooning Glow Worm in the chorus,
she set off to seek her fame and fortune in Columbus, Nebraska.
It is there where my mother’s arms clocked in at J. C. Penny Company
where she worked in ladies’ foundations, as she started building her own.
At one warm Fourth of July social,
my mother’s arms held a young man close, as they danced the night away.
She would continue that dance for the next 67 years.
My mother’s arms held eight babies tight,
and one more that was gone too soon.
Each grandbaby and great-grandbaby that followed were cocooned in her embrace.
As a full-time parent, my mother’s arms also worked the factory line inspecting syringe needles.
Later they gathered up other children as she started her own in-house daycare—one of the first licensed in Platte County.
