Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Save Your Napkin



Children are a heritage of the LORD... – Psalm 127:3



The girls had finished their breakfast. I was reciting to Emily what was in her lunchbox and which item she would probably enjoy for snacktime. As I spoke, I gently folded her napkin and then reached for the Sharp*ie marker to write her a note. She stopped me.

"Mommy, ummm can you please only send a napkin once or twice a week?"

Such an interesting request. Were other kids making fun of her mommy-drawn smiley faces and love notes? Do they have napkins on the table already? Was she just not very messy and threw them away mindlessly?

She went on to explain that like I, collecting and hoarding every drawing, note and piece of art she has done since birth, she keeps these napkins. Like old friends or cherished treasures, she said they are my works of art and she wanted to keep each one. She said I'd need to slow down with them because her pencil box no longer closes, that is where she stashes them. Miss Emily has every single one.


I immediately recalled a day last year when her teacher sent home in a baggie marked "IMPORTANT", a napkin. On that napkin, Emily had drawn a smiley face and written the words, "You are spechal, I love you Mommy." Her teacher, fully aware of the joy of Mommylove, snatched up that napkin and sent it home, with a note..."I noticed Emily do this today, definitely a keeper, perhaps even framable:)"

I tried not to scare her with the tears that welled up in my eyes, they were joyful ones, not sad ones. Who is this wonderful child? If we ever wonder what it is our child sees; if we ever wondered if they will imitate us or do as we do, wonder no more. They will . Though I fear she will imitate the times when I am a bad example, Emily proved to me that she sees and better yet, "gets" the finer, less bold demonstrations of love that are done every single day.


I will never look at a napkin the same. Once just a tool to simply clean up a mess, I now see napkins in a different light. The potential of each napkin was infinitely related to what we did with it when passing it along to one another. Maybe it does help to clean me up, in ways I never imagined.

18 comments:

MacMui Mom said...

How incredibly precious! Happy Chinese New Year to all of you!!!

Lisa, Mia and Eddie

Jboo said...

That is so sweet!! What a thoughtful girl you have there!

Janet

Debbie said...

How sweet!!! I would definately frame a few of them.

Catherine said...

Oh Heather! Now those are the moments that melt your heart. What a precious little girl you have there!

Beth said...

Are you KIDDING me?! She's beautiful dear friend...a complete reflection of her mother. :)

Half Gaelic, Half Garlic! said...

That is so precious....what a sweet, sweet girl!! As they say, the apple does not fall far from the tree:)

Hope you all are doing well...January has been a blur of a month...I hope the rest of the winter flies by as quickly...I am ready for spring!

Lisa

Sharon Sloan said...

Oh, that precious Emily! How sweet, sweet, sweet!

I will never look at the napkins the same again either.

Hugs,
Sharon

Happy Chinese New Year today!

3 Peanuts said...

Oh Heather---Em is so sweet. I am so glad that God gave you each other. You both wear your hearts on your sleeve and you bless one another :)

Love,
Kim

Unknown said...

I saw that you won the Baby Be Blessed doll on Jill's blog and thought I'd pop over for a visit. :)

Your blog is beautiful - isn't Danielle wonderful at what she does? She did mine too.

This story about your daughter and the napkin was beautiful. It truly blessed my heart this morning.

I'm happy to have met you here today.

Have a blessed and fruitful week.
Lynnette :)

prechrswife said...

That is just precious!

redmaryjanes said...

That is absolutely wonderful. I used to send love notes with the boys, but I am sure they never kept them.
I would have cried too.

The Byrd's Nest said...

Oh Heather I remember doing this for James and Elisabeth.

What a beautiful trip down memory lane for me.

I also remember dropping James off mid year of 1st grade and him saying, "Momma, please don't kiss me goodbye in front of my friends anymore" :( It was really hard to hold my tears back.

THEN when he was in high school, he was a two time state champion wrestler. In between his matches he would come up to the bleachers and lay his head in my lap and sleep. I loved it!

Shelly and Family said...

Oh My Gosh..I am in tears here...how truly sweet! It makes me smile knowing that there is some "good" in our world today!

Oh how I can't wait until my girls and I can share moments like that....

Michelle R Photography said...

Ahhhhh.... I'm all misty here. How could you possibly hide the tears after you realized what she was doing? Oh my, that is just about the sweetest thing. Your Emily has such a loving heart. She has such a great role model in you.

Love,
Michelle

mommy24treasures said...

She is one special girl with one extra special mommy:)

Rachel said...

What a precious story - you are raising some amazing little girls!

Football and Fried Rice said...

Oh my goodness - this is such an amazing story; how tender is her heart!

Angie said...

What a precious, sweet daughter you have, Heather. I know you are so proud of her and the young lady she is becoming. So sweet!

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