What is a mother to do with her two caged children during the longest running rain spell in the history of the state? I have learned that sometimes you just have to step up to the plate, swing for the fence, and let your children lead you home.
The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Smithville kids that day;
The rain just kept on coming down. Oh rain, please go away!
And then when Cooper threw a fit and Brisco did the same,
A sickly silence fell over Mom—she was about to go insane.
A straggling Mommy got off the floor in deep despair to straighten her face.
The children clung to hope—and Mommy’s legs they did embrace;
They thought if only Mom would let us play and skip our nap—
We’d stop this crying and whining if we could go outside and bat.
But Mommy didn’t change her mind. She firmly stood her ground.
For if she would have taken them out, one surely would have drowned.
So upon those stricken brothers, two, grim melancholy sat,
For there seemed but little chance of them going out to bat.
So they stood there looking out the door, to the wonderment of all,
Dreaming of the day that Mom would let them go play ball;
They wondered why this rain wouldn’t stop; it just kept coming down.
“Why did this rain cloud come and take a seat over our town?”
Then from the two boys throats, through tears, there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For they just could not give up the hope of going out to bat.
There was ease in Mommy’s manner as she stepped into her place;
There was pride in Mommy’s bearing and a smile on Mommy’s face.
And when, responding to the cries, she gave each boy a spat,
No neighbor watching from the road could doubt ‘twas Mommy at the bat.
Four teary eyes were on her and she knew the spat had hurt;
Two sobbing children wiped their snotty noses on her skirt;
Then while the writhing children ground their faces into her hip,
Defiance gleamed in Mommy’s eye, a sneer curled Mommy’s lip.
And now a quite unusual thought came hurtling through the air,
And Mommy stood a-pondering it in haughty grandeur there.
I know I really should go put these crazy kids to bed—
But “that ain’t my style,” said Mommy. And out the door they fled.
From the front porch, deep with puddles, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore.
“Get her! Go splash Mommy!” shouted Cooper with a grin;
And it’s likely they’d have done it had not Mommy raised her hand.
With a smile of Christian charity great Mommy’s visage shone;
She stilled the rising tumult; she bade their game go on;
Again she warned the kids, as their temptation grew and grew;
But she knew the urge was much too strong, so into the puddles they flew.
“Are you crazy?” cried the neighbor, “They will catch their death of cold!”
But one scornful look from Mommy and the neighbor was off-told.
They laughed and splashed and squealed til they were soaked from toe to head,
Creating such a memory, much more fun than going to bed.
Now, the sneer is gone from Mommy’s lip, no longer is she crazed;
Who knew that playing in the rain could fix Mommy’s malaise
And as for children taking naps, they still are daily needed,
But sometimes spontaneity should just go unimpeded.
Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The rain has ceased its falling, and the children’s hearts are light;
Two tired boys crawl into bed a-smiling, there’s no doubt
That tonight there’s joy in Smithville—Mommy let the kids go out.
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