Things You Didn’t Put on Your Résumé
How often you got up in the middle of the night
when one of your children had a bad dream,
and sometimes you woke because you thought
you heard a cry but they were all sleeping,
so you stood in the moonlight just listening
to their breathing, and you didn’t mention
that you were an expert at putting toothpaste
on tiny toothbrushes and bending down to wiggle
the toothbrush ten times on each tooth while
you sang the words to songs from Annie, and
who would suspect that you know the fingerings
to the songs in the first four books of the Suzuki
Violin Method and that you can do the voices
of Pooh and Piglet especially well, though
your absolute favorite thing to read out loud is
Bedtime for Frances and that you picked
up your way of reading it from Glynnis Johns,
and it is, now that you think of it, rather impressive
that you read all of Narnia and all of the Ring Trilogy
(and others too many to mention here) to them
before they went to bed and on the way out to
Yellowstone, which is another thing you don’t put
on the résumé: how you took them to the ocean
and the mountains and brought them safely home. – Joyce Sutphen
(from You Tube)
This poem popped up in my email this morning from a daily subscription I receive. The poem, new to me, resonated with my own child raising years and bring to mind my grandchildren’s parents, Katy and Tom, and Jennifer, who sang these words over and over and over again. Perhaps, it will resonate with you in some way as well.
Poem from The Writers Almanac : “Things You Didn’t Put on Your Résumé” Reproduced from Carrying Water to the Field: New and Selected Poems by Joyce Sutphen by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Forthcoming October 2019 with the University of Nebraska Press.
Bedtime from Francis as seen on Amazon.
So beautiful, Penny! I can’t wait to share this poem with my mom! You always leave me with something to think about with each post, my friend. Today you have inspired me to make time to work on my own Life Resume! Heartfelt thanks, as always for all that you share, Penny!💗
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Isn’t it a wonderful poem? I hope you mom will enjoy it, too. There is a little bit of something in all of us, whether or our own childhood, our parents, on and on. I hope you and yours are doing well, Dawn.
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The sun’ll come out tomorrow! Lovely post, and memories:)
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I was hoping you would see it, Annie – er, Jennifer. Thank you,
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I love it and can do identify!
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I thought you might, Beth.
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I can relate to this poem very well! I love that song too!
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Isn’t it a good one, Janet? That song was a favorite of Jennifer’s. She sand it over and over again. 🙂
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Love this! Thanks for sharing.
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Glad to hear it, Karen. I thought it to be worth sharing – so, you are very welcome.
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What a beautiful tribute to parents and other caregivers. I can definitely relate to reading to nieces and nephews on long car trips. Wonderful memories.
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Ah . . . yes! Long car trips are such wonderful times for reading aloud. Friends of our always took their children camping. Rosalie would read Watership Down all the way there, and then back – every year! I can imagine you being a most excellent reader, L. Marie, and sure you built some lasting memories with your nieces and nephews.
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Thank you for sharing this wonderful poem. There are so many things we don’t put on our resume.
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You are very welcome, Gerlinde. Yes. There are indeed many things we don’t put down.
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What a beautiful poem, Penny! Thank you so much for sharing! You dropped off my WP Read…grrr!
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Oh! Sorry I dropped off. I haven’t been posting much lately, so, need to remedy that, Jill. I thought the poem one that we can all relate to in so many different ways.
PS – My husband did buy me a WW magazine. Wrong issue, but, he tried. I’m on the lookout. 🙂
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LOL! That’s sweet that your husband tried. 🙂 I can make a xeroxed copy, if you’d like. Enjoy your weekend!
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What a wonderful poem! I love this! And I’m going to share it with my children, now parents, too!
As for “Annie,” we have our family stories centered around that soundtrack. I had the LP when the children were young, and Jonathan, sometime between 2 and 3 years old, LOVED this music. He would march around the living room, holding a favorite stuffed animal, almost in a trance induced by hearing “The Sun Will Come Out…” I can’t remember if he was as enamored with all the other songs, but we sure do remember how much he loved “Annie.”
What happy smile you’ve given me, Penny. Thank you!
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I thought it was worth sharing, Debra, as much for those of us who can relate to this, but, especially parents with young children. We all need to honor those everyday things we do, but, especially parents of young children. Jennifer, too, loved this song and sang it over and over again. She was Annie for Halloween, and wanted me to dye her head red. 🙂 I didn’t.
Glad to have given you a smile, Debra. Hugs.
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This is so neat. If I had a penny for every time I read Bedtime for Frances. It was a library book but got checked out often enough. Love “Annie” too. Have a nice Fall. Still waiting for it to cool off in Kansas.g
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I am so pleased to know that you thought so, too, Joyce. Neat. A good word to describe this poem. It was that, indeed, and I had to share it with all of you. Our daughter, Jennifer, loved Annie and sang that song over and over and over again. Both girls loved Bedtime for Frances.
Fall is starting to make her presence known here. Cooler temps and falling leaves. I wish you a nice Fall as well.
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Dear Penny, thanks so much for sharing this poem. I never had children, but I can remember being a child and having Mom and Dad do these things. Such good memories. Peace.
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You are very welcome, Dee.I think this resonates for many as we were all children once, but, even-more-so that we all have things we do or have done that we don’t put on our resumes, yet, are so integral to our character, work ethics, etc. Good memories – so glad, Dee. Peace.
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However did I miss this post? I have always loved Bedtime for Francis anD did indeed read it with voices. We had a storybook record (or was it a tape?). The kids liked it but prefered to have me read it. It gave us more giggle time.
Then you had to add Annie to the mix. When I was in the hospital after having James and shad spent my very first night ever away from her, two year old Jennifer called me. To cheer me up, she sang Tomorrow to me in her toddler way. Instead of singing “bet your bottom dollar”, she sang “bet your darling bottom.” That got me laughing when I needed it. Thanks for sharing this wonderful poem.
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You didn’t. You’re here now. 🙂 I can imagine your voices and your children’s delight at them. Isn’t it the best of bedtime books?
Oh, Janet, that is so cute – “bet your darling bottom”. A giggle, at just the right time, which toddlers have a way of delivering. I love it. My Jennifer loved the movie, then saw the play several times as well. She was even Annie for Halloween. I drew the line when she asked me to dye her head red. 🙂
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A perfect poem. Such good words, and many are reminiscent of my own child-raising days. Frances is a huge fave of mine! And I had that same tape.
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I thought it was just too good of a poem that most of us go relate to, either as a child, a parent, an aunt, etc.
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I can totally relate to that poem! What a find. Thamkyou for sharing it Penny.
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You are most welcome, Juliet. There is so much we all do that make us who and how we are.
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