Just for Mom

J.T. Garland is hoping his mother, Reba, will have a great surprise on Mother’s Day. Even if the “surprise” part doesn’t happen, the eighth-grader at Carpenters Middle School is pretty sure his mom is going to be happy.

J.T. was the grand prize winner of the Bristol and Bragg Expressions of a Mother’s Love contest on Saturday, May 2. His poem about his mother’s love was selected in a drawing, and he got to choose a Mother’s Day pennant with Swarovski crystals to give to his mother.

J.T. wrote the poem about his mother for Renda Crowe’s Poetry Slam class at Carpenters and decided to enter it in the contest when the teacher told the class about it. His aunt accompanied him to Bristol and Bragg for the contest drawing, so, unless Reba reads this story before Mother’s Day, J.T. plans on keeping the win a surprise until Sunday.

Bristol and Bragg awarded a total of 12 prizes in the contest. Shoppers were served refreshments while the drawing was being held, then picked out their necklaces and ended with J.T. reading the poem he wrote for his mother.

J.T. is the son of John and Reba Garland, and lives in Tallassee. Here is his winning poem:

Mother’s Love

How does my mother show her love?

Is she the one that starts your day?

Gets you up and on your way?

Is her love like the coo of a dove?

Can you say it’s sent from above?

There’s not much more I can say

So I honor my mother in the month of May.

She will always be there when push comes to shove.

Sometimes in her you put your trust.

Being one of the strong kind

From day to day is a must.

As she sometimes sets her mind,

if I didn’t have my mother’s love

My heart would turn to dust.