Small Hands, Large Hopes

Hands across the generations. (Nyssa, Christmas 1988)
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"When I was a child... With those five words, almost holy in their simplicity, we touch hands across the generations, each to the next. With that word 'when', we reach back, as if to take something special from a pocket. With the words 'I was', we stand with locked knees upon our place in history. And with 'a child', we remind the generations to follow that we were once young, too, and that they, too, will grow old and full of memories." ~ Ted Kooser, Poet Laureate of the United States

A small child with life unfolding before her, walks with her grandma on a windy winter beach. Little hands pat the sand and strain to find the foamy water... OH! It's cold! Grandma quickly dries those hands and encases them in her gloves...tiny hands hidden within those large gloves, safe and warm.

That's what we try to do as parents.... hide our children's hands, hearts and minds in a safe cocoon where the cold and rain and horrors of life cannot reach them; where they may grow strong in spirit, as well as in body. It hurts to know that we can only do so much to keep them in our hands of safety and all too soon those barbs of life will work their way through.

This little child grew up all too soon. Now her hands sport her own gloves and wrap arms around her friends during times of loss and my hands can no longer fix all her hurts. Perhaps someday, there will be another little girl walking along the beach with her grandma; tiny hands wrapped in large warm gloves and her future wrapped safely in her own mother's heart. Someday.

Submission for Tuesday Challenge topic "hands". (end of post)