Lanyard

This week the class was assigned to read the poem Lanyard. This poem really challenged me to consider how I view my mom and made me question how much appreciation I really show her for all she has done for me. I am adopted, so in my case my mother did not actually give birth to me, but she has done everything a mother does for a child for me. She takes care of me when I am sick and help me solve a problem when I encounter one. She helps keep me out of trouble and from a young age, she has instilled valuable lifelong lessons in my life. When I think about it, what have I really done for her? I have made her little gifts growing up and I have tried to make her proud of the things I do in life, but it is hard to compare anything I have done for her to all the things she has done for me.

In the last line of the poem the author says that the “lanyard” is enough to make “us even”. The author is referring to his mom and I find this sentence highly unusual. How does a lanyard break even with everything the mom has given her son, including life? I would love to think that a present I give my mom will have some significance, but I do not ever think that I can make up for everything she has done for me in my life. My mother is truly irreplaceable. The poem talks about how mothers “give life”, “teach”, and care for their children. I can say in my case, that this is not always an easy job. I think that my mother and all mothers have done so much for their children and I think that nothing can ever really show what they mean to us. I think that children should thank their mothers for everything they do for them by trying to obey them and by showing them love and compassion everyday of their life. I truly believe that without my mom being my mom throughout my life, I would not be the person that I am today and will be in the future.