Big Girls Cry Too: A Short Story Poem by Ashley Seymour

Life. It should include a set of training wheels and a box of booboo band aids.

Mommy don’t let go, ok?

I yelled as I peddled faster. Don’t worry honey, I gottcha, I won’t let go until you say. Life is like a balancing act and when you’re young, and even when you’re older, sometimes you wibble and wobble and then fall down. Parents guide their children and teach them how to stay in the groove of life until we can make it on our own. Kinda like learning to ride a two wheeler. I was just little, maybe five or six. My long blond hair would blow in the wind, and though I thought I was a “big girl” I was actually only three feet tall.

Ok Ash, I’m letting go, one, two, three! Look mom, no hands! And a few seconds later I was lying on the ground with scraped knees and elbows. Mom always told me that when life knocks you down you have to stand up, brush yourself off and get back at it. Ya know gummybear, you can’t pass up chances in life just because you might fall down. Yeah, you might wipe out, but that’s just part of the journey, sweetheart.

It takes practice honey, you’ll get it, she’d say. Then out would come the booboo band aids. They could fix even the biggest owwies. Sometimes they had Barbie, loony tunes or poobear on them and mom always had them handy. So after she patched me up she’d put me back on the two wheeler with her running behind me.
Then I grew and grew and grew, until I was more than five feet tall. And even though I thought I was a “grown up” and could withstand the trials of life on my own, I still needed her. Yeah I’m in college, and I’m of the legal drinking age, but I’m not ready to go it alone. I know I am no longer a child, but I felt safe with mom there giving me guidance and advice.
But now she’s gone, and it left a booboo that no Dora the Explorer, , Scooby Due, Barney or superman band aid can fix. And though I try to ride through life with confidence just the way she taught me, I keep falling. When I turn to look behind me, she’s not there. She’s not running behind me holding on to the seat of my bike, cheering me on, telling me to welcome what lies ahead of me, (my future) making sure that I kept on the straight and narrow (didn’t drift to far to the left or right) and to insure that I wouldn’t plow into the painful road blocks of reality, (a tree) . And though the parenting classes will tell you otherwise, whether you’re 3,33,63 or 93, there are times that, despite the fact that your hair has turned gray and you now qualify to live in a senior citizen apartment complex, you still need your mom. So, that’s why I’ve concluded that life should include a pair of training wheels, and a triple pack of booboo band aids, for no additional charge! And whoever said that BigGirls don’t cry was full of it, Because I’ve got news, big girls cry too!