I loved you enough

Some day when my children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates a mother, I will tell them:

I loved you enough
to ask you about where you are going, with whom,
and what time you would get home.

I loved you enough
to insist that you buy a bike that we could afford to give you,
with your own money.

I loved you enough
to be silent and let you discover that your hand-picked friend was a creep.

I loved you enough
to make you return a Milky-Way, with a bite out of it,
to a drug store and tell them you stole this.

I loved you enough
to stand over you for 2 hours while you cleaned your room,
a job that would have taken me 15 minutes.

I loved you enough
to let you see anger, disappointment, disgust and tears in my eyes.

I loved you enough
to admit I was wrong and ask for your forgiveness.

I loved you enough
to let you stumble, fall and hurt.

I loved you enough
to let you assume the responsibility for your actions at 6, 10 or 16.

But most of all,
I loved you enough to say NO, when you hated me for it.
That was the hardest part of all.