I watched my mother, her hands shook a little now, I could see her squint at the little bible she kept close all the time.  I poured our coffee and sat across from her at the table.  We sat here each morning, usually lost in our own little worlds, maybe a comment on what type of weather there'd be that day.  She sighed, looked down for a minute and began to speak.

"When you were a little girl, I used to fix you coffee water, you wanted to drink coffee with your daddy.. I'd put a drop of coffee and a cup of milk, oh you thought you were real grown up..you two would sit right here at this table,  it was funny in one way, you know, but, I would look at you two and, I always wondered why, you never wanted to drink coffee with me.."

I was taken aback by the revelation.  My mother had been very stern, as opposed to dad, who would bounce me on his knee, make mud pies and never pushed me away, no matter how dirty I was.  It took me a minute to gather my senses.  I sat, shocked..

"Mom.. I never knew you felt this way, I guess I should say sorry but, it wasn't a sleight.. dad was just more open, he... didn't mind me crawling all over him.. he.....

My mothers' head was down, and I saw tears fall into her lap.  I realized, she had been holding this inside her for all these years.  I moved closer and took her hand, I placed my arm around her shoulder and held her while she cried silently. 

And then, I did with my mother, what I did with my children.. Told her I loved her, kissed her forehead and sang  "Twinkle twinkle little star."

We sat like that, me holding her and singing, while she cried.

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Author guidance for This work

If your family is like mine, there is a certain area that you all gravitate to, this is the area for all the talks and serious, funny happy or sad situations, it's the place where news is told and problems are resolved. Our place was the kitchen table.. I will be adding to it, different stories or situations that have taken place there. You can write something real or made up, along with new titles please always make one title "Around the Table"

updated Feb 27 '09 by JinnDal