WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY SUMER?

It's not unusual to find that people have carved their initials or other graffiti in wet cement. There is something irresistible about the idea of leaving your identity for others to see. Often parents encourage their children to leave their names and the date in new sidewalk sections, curbs and other concrete projects near the home, knowing that this will serve as a lasting reminder when the empty nest syndrome takes effect. I am guilty of this practice, myself as there is a short section of walkway in front of my place of business that I poured in the 1980's and helped my daughter make her hand print, name and date prominently on the project. Now that my daughter is no longer with me but living in a distant state, seeing this I feel a tug at my heartstrings remembering my daughter at such a sweet and innocent age.

This photograph is a rather unusual example of the same idea, immortalizing your child with a concrete impression. What makes this example unusual is the fact that the impression was made in a concrete patch next to a gasoline pump in a service station. I fill up at this station frequently and, being a creature of habit, use the same pump every time. Each time I fill up I wonder about the impression. Judging by the size of her footprints, "Sumer" was obviously a very young child, probably under one year old, and since the date is 7-29-98 she is now ten to eleven years old. Call me an incurable romantic but I can't help wondering where she lives, what she looks like now and if she is even aware that her footprints and name adorn a patch of concrete at a service station. Sumer, if you read this, I wish you well!

SUMER

Sumer, come with Mommy
to the patch of wet concrete.
It's a wonderful opportunity
to imprint your little feet.

While daddy fills the car with gas
so we can be on our way
To visit Grandma and Grandpa
on this, your first birthday.

No one's around to see us
and today is a special day,
but every day is special
since Sumer came our way.

Daddy will really be surprised
when he sees what we have done.
We'll write your name and put the date,
Come on, lets have some fun!

Perhaps next year, when you are two
we'll come this way again
to see how much your feet have grown,
how small they were back then.

And every year thereafter
we'll return to this very spot
to marvel at your progress
since you were a little tot.

When you grow up and go your way
to make it on your own
Daddy and I will come back here
and cry for being alone.

Copyright 2009 - John Swift