"Full Circle"

The truth is in the mirror ... and the eyes.

“Life's like a movie, write your own ending. Keep believing, keep pretending.”
― Jim Henson

I remember so much about my three girls while they were growing up. It was a learning, loving time for me —-and for them. My heart was full.

I adored all the little things, how they watched and copied my actions, trying on my job as mother to use with their dolls … or to save for later when they became mothers themselves.

As toddlers, they wanted to help cook, so I pulled a chair over in front of the sink, a bowl of water, a wooden spoon and potato or apple peels to let her ‘cook’, too.

It was also common for them to want to play dress up and try on my clothes pretending they were grown up ladies. It brought back poignant memories of my own dress up days as a child …

This poem was inspired by an afternoon just like that:

 Full Circle
 by C.J. Heck

 A little girl clops in mommy's heels,
 her dress, a floppy hat.
 The borrowed pearls she's chosen
 dangle halfway down her back.

 Her face, a shining rainbow,
 ruby lips, cheeks tinted pink,
 blue splashes on both eyelids,
 powder snowflakes in the sink.

 She'll go twirling in a ballroom,
 a princess with her knight,
 or better still, be mommy,
 out with daddy Friday night.

 In a child's imagination,
 everything is crystal clear,
 but the truth beneath the surface
 is revealed in mommy's mirror.

 That little girl is all grown up,
 clothes and shoes are now her size …
 and her mirror of maturation 
 is in her daughter's eyes.

[from the book, “Anatomy of a Poet”, by C.J. Heck]

["Full Circle, in Graphic Poetry: A Wig-01 Project, Viction Design Workshop, Hong Kong, May 31, 2005].

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