XO XO - Mom

“Love, Gail”

VERSE 1

Five years old

Little blue-eyed girl

Standing in the middle of a broken world

Too young to understand

Why home didn’t feel like home anymore

Why love could split people apart

And then there you were

Picking up pieces

Before you even knew my name

A woman choosing responsibility

For a life she didn’t make

A child she didn’t have to love

But you did

Quietly

Completely

From the very start

⸻

PRE-CHORUS

Some people become mothers by blood

Some become mothers by showing up

Again

And again

And again

⸻

CHORUS

You were always my mother

In my heart

In the lunchbox notes

Signed “Love Gail, xoxo”

That made hard days softer

In the late night phone calls

When you stayed on the line for hours

Just to make sure I was okay

In every little way

You made me feel chosen

And now that I’m a mother too

I finally understand

How extraordinary it is

To love a child

Like they were always yours

⸻

VERSE 2

You made ordinary things feel sacred

Back scratches after dinner

Shopping trips just to make me feel pretty

Care packages filled with little things

That whispered

“I thought about you today”

You always saw me

Even in the seasons

I probably wasn’t easy to love

And when I got sick

You held me with such gentleness

That safety started feeling like a person

You stood beside me at my wedding

Took me to buy my first motherhood clothes

Held my hand through becoming a mother myself

And now watching you love my babies

I see it all again

The patience

The steadiness

The way love lives naturally inside you

⸻

PRE-CHORUS

And maybe broken things

Don’t always stay broken

Maybe sometimes

They become families

⸻

CHORUS

You were always my mother

In my heart

In every thoughtful gift

Every note

Every moment you made me feel seen

In the way you showed up

Near and far

Big ways and little ways

You loved me consistently

And now that I’m older

I realize what you really gave me

Not just love

But the feeling

Of being worth loving

⸻

BRIDGE

You didn’t get the first years

But somehow

You healed parts of them anyway

And if I had to live it all again

The heartbreak

The splitting

The uncertainty

I still would

Because somehow

On the other side of it all

There was you

⸻

FINAL CHORUS

So if my children grow up

Feeling safe

Seen

Held

Deeply loved

It’ll be because I learned from you

From your gentle hands

Your listening heart

Your quiet way of carrying people

You were never “like” a mother

You were mine

And you still are

Love you Mom

Xoxo