We don’t usually get the privilege
Of a title or label that includes and embraces us

We get the pause and the blanks
This is Cindy and __, ___ uhhh Shelly
It’s the kind of pause that forces the listener to wonder
Who I am and how I fit in

The truth usually settles in as they see me with my partner and kids
That all changed one rainy day in May

Sweet, loving, 86 year old Alice Marsland introduced me to a neighbor
“This is my daughter-in-law Shelly”
No blanks — No pauses

Only love and genuine acknowledgement
Of who I was to her

No blanks — no pauses