The Cruise

The Cruise

when her father died
she came into
a significant sum
of his money

it was around that time
she told
her two daughters,
"i've always dreamed
of having enough money
to take my kids,
just me and you guys, 
on a cruise."

it was enough
of an attainable dream
to let her daughters imagine
maybe
it was true
and maybe
behind all the years
there was some 
plausible excuse
for most of her life
given mostly
to herself

but decades passed
along with the money
and the cruise 
that never came
but it still made her
feel fine
to be the mother
that always wanted
to take her daughters
on that cruise

it still makes her 
feel fine
to be the 
good and loving mother
that's always wanted
and still wants
to take that cruise
rather than the mother
filled with excuses
who never
took it

her dream
of that cruise
was true enough
and enough 
to get her through
more decades
of even more
listless days

that fantasy
along with all the others
enough
to savor 
as 
what could have been
or 
what might be
since
making them
come true
though a minor expense
was still
far too much
of a cost
even when 
all her father's money
was still there