May 7, 2011

HANDPRINTS

I've always said that having children put things into perspective for me. From the moment I laid eyes on my firstborn, life as I knew it was altogether different. And truly, I'd have it no other way.

On Friday, my preschool daughters brought out two large brown envelopes, each adorned with shiny ribbons. They insisted I open them, even though Mothers Day was still a couple of days away. I told them I should wait, but they were so excited, I finally agreed to anyway.

Inside each envelope were identical sheets of paper that had a poem on the left. To the right of the poem was a red paint handprint - the handprint on one sheet of paper was slightly bigger than the handprint on the other. My oldest daughter Eden asked me to read the poem on hers first - hers was the bigger of the two handprints.

I read it slowly so she could try to follow along by looking at the words, and by the time I reached the end, I was completely in tears. I gave her a hug, and Taimane asked me to read hers to her. I obliged, and even though I'd JUST read the same exact poem moments before, reading hers had the same effect on me, and I couldn't control the tears.

They smiled, happy that their little Mothers Day gifts had such an effect on me, and I squeezed them tight. I sat there and thought about them as babies. I couldn't believe how quickly the years were going by, and how grown my little girls suddenly were. I stared at their handprints, and held their little hands, hoping that no matter how old they got, they'd never get tired of holding their mommy's hand, something they love to do now.



My life has been richly blessed as a mother, and I couldn't be more grateful for handprints on walls and furniture, and more thankful to my Heavenly Father for choosing to entrust 3 incredibly special children to me.

Happy Mothers Day!