Nurture

PC: @garyschapman

Nur-ture

[nərCHər] noun

Definition: The process of caring for and encouraging the growth or development of someone or something.

---

As in: when I came home

with an eyebrow piercing

my grandmother muttered,

“That does nothing for you”

nurturing in me a sense that

appearances mean much more

than I cared to believe.

As in: as a social worker of

pregnant teenagers my mother kept

a basket filled in our bathroom -

reading material if you will - the kind of

information that nurtured

a keen sense of anatomy,

of growing pains,

and of abstinence.

As in: “What did you want to be

when you grew up?” at age 7, I asked my mom.

“A mommy,” she replied.

All my life these women nurtured

an ambition in me.

Said repeatedly I could be

anything I wanted to be,

so here I am becoming

a stay at home mom,

the very thing

I had never aspired to be.