My Hand Print

When our children are little we moms love their little hand prints.

Footprints too. Don't want to leave out the baby toes!

Hands are touch. Touch is intimate. Intimacy is bond.

There aren't many stronger bonds than those between mother and child.

Both of my children made hand print poem keepsakes for me for Christmas when they were each in kindergarten.

The one on the left is AJ's and on the right is Camryn's.

These two school craft projects are my very favorites. I put them up somewhere every Christmas, and I will cherish them forever. Every year I read them and get a catch in my throat.

The poems are very similar, with just a few differences.

AJ's reads:

Sometimes you get discouraged

Because I am so small

And always leave my fingerprints

On furniture and walls.

But everyday I'm growing--

I'll be grown some day

And all those tiny hand prints

Will surely fade away,.

Here's a little hand print wreath

Just so you can recall

Exactly how my fingers looked

When I was very small.

And Camryn's goes:

Sometimes you get discouraged

Because I am so small

And always leave my fingerprints

On furniture and walls.

But every day I am growing up and

Soon I'll be so tall,

That all of those fingerprints will be

Hard to recall.

So here is a hand print so that

You can say,

This is how my hand looked in

2005 on Christmas Day.

Every. Single. Mom. Out there will nod in agreement that our kids grow up way too fast. There's no escaping it. The days can drag, but the years fly by.

Camryn is 13 and AJ will turn 8 next month. My babies are no more; haven't been for awhile now.

Cami's feet are bigger than mine and she's nearly as tall as me. How true the line "Soon I'll be so tall" is! She can be dropped off at the movies or the skate deck, and she walks a mile round trip to the nearest gas station mini-mart.

AJ is still kind of small, but growing and learning and maturing at lightening speed.

We are able to leave them home alone for more than just a few minutes. Camryn can do some simple cooking by herself. The other night we were two miles down the road at Mark's work party (no kids allowed), and the kids got themselves ready for bed, including AJ's shower. (I did get one phone call during the party due to a fight, but still.)

All these changes. Time marching on. Kids growing up. Makes me so glad I have those keepsakes.

So I can remember when....