While I was Braiding My Hair

“While I Was Braiding My Hair”

Sunday morning, the eternal struggle:

Teen son won’t get up from bed

to go to Mass.

Just not, will NOT, just won’t.

Sunday morning, my usual

velvet greeting worn down to a threadbare threat:

“Well, no breakfast at Denny’s for you today, young man!”

Don’t know why

(was I tired?)

but today,

I walked away.

Went to my room instead,

Stood before the mirror,

and began to braid my hair.

And while I was braiding my hair

(the quiet in our apartment oddly pleasant and comforting),

my boy sits up in bed,

drops his feet on the floor,

and, just as silently

gets dressed for Mass.

Reni Roxas lives in Everett and is publisher of Tahanan Books.

SHARING STORIES is a weekly column for and about the 50 plus crowd living in the Puget Sound region. Send your stories and photos to ariele@comcast.net. Tell local or personal stories; discuss concerns around aging and other issues; share solutions, good luck, and reasons to celebrate; poems are fine too. Pieces may be edited or excerpted. We reserve the right to select among pieces. Photos are always a plus and a one-sentence bio is requested (where you live, maybe age or career, retired status, etc.).

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