Today the Julian calendar declares it to be Mother’s Day.  A day that goes back to the early 20th century in the United States in 1908.  This is not what I came here to write about today.  I am not here to tell the history of this civil holiday of flowers, candy and pastel colored brunches.  I am here, we are here, to discuss that everyday we need to Honor thy Mother, and thy Father.

It has personally taken me a long journey to understand this most basic of commandments.  I try hard to follow.  It isn’t always the easiest path.  In actuality it it is often the more difficult trod.

I have only one blood mother who born nursed and raised me in my life but this does not mean I haven’t had other mothers along the way.  My MomII was always there for me.  She kept me feed and looked after myself when I was away from my own home.  I know that she cared for me greatly.  My Aunt Shel, who at the time, seemed to lived forever away from my home, helped but some spiritual love in my path.  My mother in-law, Yachiyo, who I never knew so well, but she kept my belly full and accepted me as part of the family.  My grandmothers for being grandmothers to us.  One recent addition is Mama Lew an engaging woman who will always listen.

I live so far away from all my mothers.  it saddens me, but I know from all their guidance that they are always part of me.

We as a community need to respect our mother, fathers, and elders.  They have years, experience and wisdom that comes with passing of the moons.  Building a strong community begins with the bonds between parents and their children.  Children, no matter their age, need to respect and honor the sacrifices that their elders have paved for them.

Lots of Love to all the mothers and fathers that have come into my life.  Especially the one that raised me to be the man that I am today, Madelyn.

Love

Jacob

This is piece is the next in the continuing collaboration with Seth Brimstone Schere.

More than 10 years ago I was slicing a grapefruit it half with a kitchen knife.  I don’t recall exactly when.  It may well be more than 10 years.  There was really nothing unusual about it until i looked inside one of the halves.  There, imbedded in the grapefruit’s flesh was a seed that had already sprouted.  I had never come across a seed that had sprouted inside a citrus fruit.

I took this as a good sign, and I planted in a small pot.

The plant grew and grew over the years.  I gradually transferred it to bigger and bigger pots in a nice sunny place on my Tokyo patio. For years, there was only growth.  No flowers.  No fruit.  Just some oddly shaped grapefruit leaves.  Perhaps two years ago three blossoms appeared on the tree only to be swept away by the strong bay winds.  I was ready to give up on the tree and chop it down.  I thought that after all these years perhaps this tree was just infertile and would never bear fruit.

This all changed this spring.  When the nights began to warm and the new green shoots were sprouting forth, that is when I noticed the little white bulbs.  Not just in one section of the tree as they had been a few years ago, but they cover the tree. The white flower’s sweet scent filling the air as I water the garden.

As spring will quickly become summer I pray that some of these flowers will hold on with all their might and transform themselves into fleshy grapefruit but that is greatly out of my hands.  I only tend the garden.  There is only One who can do that.

I am truly thankful that I waited and waited.  Now I can enjoy the sprouted seed from all those years ago from that halved grapefruit.