"Hode-ju?"

Years ago, my aunt said something to me that to this day is very profound.  She said, "Never get too busy that you forget to stop and just hold your child."  She was reminiscing that she was always so busy as a wife, a stay-at-home mom of 4 young children and a pastor's wife, she would at times ignore her son's need to be held.  I never forgot that tid-bit of wisdom.  In fact, I can still hear the cutest little echoes of when my daughter would reach out her arms and say, "Hode-ju?"  When in her own little mind she was really saying, "Hold me?"  I dropped my busyness, held her and gave her my time.  In my heart, I knew those precious moments were so fleeting.  It is true...time is fleeting.

As my daughter grows older, I tend to forget that she still needs me to hold her and she still needs her Mom to "make it all better."  A couple of weeks ago she jammed her "pinkie toe" on a tool in the basement.  Ouch that hurt...we've all experienced that before.  So, of course, she has continued to re-injure that baby toe over and over and over again.  Each time she bumps it, she is in obvious excruciating pain.  One of the last times she said to me, after a few hours went by, "Mommy, you forgot to kiss my pinkie toe for me."  She was absolutely right.  So, I dropped everything and went over and kissed that precious, dirty and very
bruised pinkie toe.  Fully present, everything was then all better.

Sometimes I wish that life was always that simple...that I could just kiss it and make it all better.  Mommies can't always work their magic.