Art/Photo design by Susana Tavares © 2009 and used with permission
I peered through the windshield, waving furiously out the sunroof, as I watched your plane speed down the runway to take flight.
As you lifted off, I found myself landing in a faraway place…
A place called yesterday.
In an instant, you were once again wrapped tightly in my arms,
warm in my passionate embrace.
That was the day I promised to keep you forever.
I remember your tiny fingers and toes~
the perfection of your every feature.
I remember how you couldn’t live without me…
How you would caress my cheek and stare at me as I held you close to my breast.
How my heart became forever entangled with yours,
beating in perfect time.
Art/Photo design by Susana Tavares © 2009 and used with permission
That day…
The day I fell in love with you~
I promised to walk this road of motherhood;
the incredible, wild and blissful path that requires deliberate and complete symbiosis~
followed by complete division.
The journey that requires the investment of all I am~
followed by the complete separation from all I have been.
Art/Photo design by Susana Tavares © 2009 and used with permission
It didn’t occur to me to think of an airplane as I whispered my promises and planted my kisses…
All I could hear was the rhythm of our love.
It didn’t occur to me that my mission would be
to grow you up~
so I could let you go.
Art/Photo design by Susana Tavares © 2009 and used with permission
On this day…
As you fly away…
The tear in my heart is open and raw.
It is a joyful pain I was meant to bear.
I remember and listen to the deep, fading rhythm of our oneness.
I quickly gather my memories and lock them tightly in my treasure box.
Art/Photo design by Susana Tavares © 2009 and used with permission
The plane is now a glint in the sky,
and while I know you will return to me,
and while I will know your every feature…
I’m beginning to hear,
far-off in the distance,
the faint strain of a new song~
a new sound with a vaguely familiar beat.
The cadence grows stronger~
I know it as if it were my own.
It’s the sound of little you,
twirling and singing.
It’s precious, little you with wings
gliding through the clouds…
Little, amazing you~
creating a new rhythm.
Art/Photo design by Susana Tavares © 2009 and used with permission
edenstream.com - catherine whittier 
Catherine, this is one of those most heartfelt story of the transition of the mother daughter relationship I have read. You have such a talent for putting heart things in such beautiful prose. Thank you for sharing this.
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Oh, your comment brought tears. Thanks so much for your encouragement….
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Dear Catherine, thank you for choose my art to be the company of such wonderful words…you make me cry …I understand your deep feelings, I am also a mother and one day I will remember these words when my birds leave the nest….
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Thank you Susana- it has been a sweet pleasure to work with you and your art speaks of motherhood with the same passion. xoxo
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I just stumbled upon your blog. What a wonderful piece of writing – I thought about it all night. You’ve taken something that seems too deep for words, and yet found the words to express it.
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Thanks so much for stumbling… your comment made me cry as well. 🙂 If there are any words for such deep feelings… I’m so grateful that as mothers, we can share a few.
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Catherine! Thanks so much for posting this! It is just beautiful! In just a few hours, my own Nicole boards a plane for a month in the Dominican Republic. You have put into words what I feel in my heart. Thank you so much.
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I will be praying for Nicole… I would love to hear more about her trip.
It’s oh so bittersweet… our little girls are all grown up ❤
Thanks for your encouragement. Love you always…
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wonderful post!!!! i admire too susana!!!! i think my art has a lot common elements with hers!!!
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Thank you… so sweet to hear from you! I visited your blog and I love artists and dreamers~ xo
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Catherine, this so reminds me of the first time we put Charissa on a plane to travel overseas for her first of many mission trips. It is in setting our children free to do God’s will that we find them in the center of His will and heart. Even though our heart breaks we know deep down as a mother that they are beginning the adventure of their lifetime and walk deeper with Jesus, their lover and Creator. It is like the butterfly and he changes from a caterpillar to flying high in the Heavens but in the between they have to die to soar so with us we have to die to fly.
Love you and love your family.
Charissa now has a wonderful husband and four precious children and they are serving Him in ministry now.
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Thank you Linda… so true….
We know that every mother knows these stories of release… it’s amazing what God gives us to bear and how deeply He blesses us in the process… xoxox
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Catherine, Your written artwork is so incredible & breathless. You choose your words with such articulations which captures the essence of a message. One day I want to post the story that you gave to me over 15 yrs ago & I still cherish in my Bible. Our Awesome God has certainly given you an incredible gift of written art! Love you lots, Sandy Mudry
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Oh my… thank you Sandy. The very thought that you have saved that story in your Bible for all these years blesses me so deeply, I hardly know what to say. Thank you for saying that my writing is art…. it is the art of expressing my deepest emotions; feelings and inspirations that are stirred by the finger of God. It’s like giving birth each time. I don’t know that I’m much of a writer~ but I’m a practiced expresser 🙂
I love you always and will never forget our times in the Word- or our times laughing together. xoxo
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Wow Catherine I had no idea you wrote! This so amazingly beautiful, I am crying thinking of the day when my kids will find their new rhythm.
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Thank you Amanda…. your words inspire me and I’m crying too!
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Oh, Catherine, I was just catching up on your blog and this one really touched my mother’s heart as I prepare for Molly’s graduation. I’ve found myself longing for yesterday as I sort through pictures for the slideshow and relive all those wonderful memories of motherhood. Thanks for reminding me that this is the culmination of motherhood–the letting go to watch our children fulfill God’s will in their lives. And now I must go find a Kleenex…
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Awwww… crying with you…. so amazing and bittersweet to be a Mom. Graduation was a big and very special time for me…. Bless you as you prepare for the sweet celebrations ahead and thank you so much for your comment!
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Dear Cathy: I read the beautiful poem & the words were very parallel to my journey with my kids…literally with Andrew flying real planes, and Chelsea being away at college & contemplating her future in Maryland…I was drawn to the illustrations…so expressive & colorful…and as I read the first comment, only then did I realize that you wrote those words and created this neat story. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to enjoy it! And thank you for sharing it! You are very talented! Happy Mother’s Day!
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Thanks so much, Diane… aren’t we so blessed to love so much that it hurts to let go? What an impossible, beautiful pain… from childbirth to the grave. So grateful that the words touched your heart. Happy Mother’s Day to a beautiful Mommy! xoxo
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