To M...

"You play so cool, and calm, and in charge," my husband used to say, "but inside you have this big, softie heart."

Well, my big, softie heart is sad tonight. I received an email from a friend announcing his mother's passing away. And behind the formal words, I could feel such pain... My friend is well surrounded and supported, he has a wife and a daughter. Yet, there's something about a man in pain, a man crying, that brings out something in me... It's something beyond motherly instincts and beyond tenderness, it's the eternal cliché. Le repos du guerrier. Lay your head on my breast, and let me stroke away all your pains and sorrows...
Perhaps it is what we women are really born for...

Peace to you, M, and in my heart, I'm holding you like your mother used to, when you were still a little boy...