Before You Forget Me…

Before you forget me, before it’s too late

There are things I need you to know

Things I never realized were as important as they are

Before we learned that these days might be all there are.

Few years remain, maybe only months

Before your absentmindedness turns to confusion

And from confusion to a new personality

And then to blank stares and forgetting who I am.

And after that? Who knows?

So, this time might be all I have, before it’s too late

to tell you how much I loved being your child.

The jammy kisses--

The bicycle rides--

The teenage attitude I flung your way--

All part of a childhood I wouldn’t change if I could.

The college drop off--

The holiday visits--

The pleading for extra money--

They were all part of growing into an adult, and I’d only change me if I could.

The calls about new jobs and new love and new babies on the way--

The miles between us that you never let stop your comforting reach--

My own hair sprouting silver and thinning on top--

They were all getting me ready for this, this thing I’d change, if only I could.

You taught me how to listen, how to learn, how to love

But you never taught me how to lose you, not like this, not piece by piece.

So, before you forget me, before it’s too late

I need you to know that we will learn this together

The same way we have learned so much else

Since I was a child, and you were my world.

So, before it’s too late,

I thank you, I love you, and I’ll never forget.