Notes

When I was young, one of my signature moves was to leave notes for family members, usually on their beds. I just loved the idea of my mom or one of my siblings walking into their bedrooms and seeing a love note on their bed, telling them how much I loved them and how great I thought they were. It thrilled me. I determined that when I was a mother, I would leave love notes all the time for my husband and children--in lunch boxes, on beds, in pockets--everywhere I could think of. I love this little way of communication that is personal and thoughtful.

Anyway, I haven't been super amazing at following through with this goal, but I do leave a note for my husband every time I leave town and I do put notes in my kids' lunch boxes, although they seldom eat home lunch. I also leave notes spontaneously whenever I can. Although I'm not the world's greatest at it, apparently some of my note enthusiasm has worn off on my children, which just makes me happy clear to my bones.

Here are a few examples of the things my children have written to me the past few weeks:

What mom doesn't want to be her 7-year-old's BFF?

Below is something I found in Regyn's backpack when I cleaned it out over Christmas break. It's actually not a love note or a note at all, for that matter, but it tickled me and warmed my heart, so I'm sharing it anyway. She was writing Christmas wishes. My personal favorite is that she wishes there were no pranksters. Kids are so hilarious! It's the last wish that pulls on my heart--"I wish that there were no devorces." Isn't it something that a seven-year-old girl whose parents are still married would understand enough about the pain and sorrow divorce causes families that she added it to her Christmas Wish List? It causes me to pause and swallow hard, as another small reminder of the difficult world my children are growing up in, presents itself. I love Regyn's soft heart and her thoughtfulness of others. She makes me want to be so kind and so pure.

Now from Nate:

He wrote this poem about me at school. I found it in his backpack, and it made my whole day--week--month, that is. Let me just rewrite this little poem because the picture isn't great. It is an acrostic poem that spells MOTHER down the side and then he uses descriptive words. Here it is (with original spelling):

Marvelous, magical, crazy, mom
Optomistic, on time, overdrive, mother of 5
Totally awesome, she's the bomb
Hyper, hilarious, helpful, loves to be alive
Entertaining, elegant, earings
Rosy cheeks, wonderful feelings

I mean, I love this poem! He captures so many pieces of our relationship. My personal favorites are the words, "magical, crazy, overdrive, mother of 5, loves to be alive," and best of all, "wonderful feelings." I hope he meant two things by using that phrase: first, that he knows I have wonderful feelings about being his mother; and second, that when he thinks of me, he has wonderful feelings. Either way, I love this kid and I love this poem (have I mentioned that already?) It's one I'm keeping forever.

The cool part about the above poem is that he also wrote one about his older sister, Hallee. I know. I was shocked. They used to fight incessantly, and it's so nice now that they are growing up a bit and becoming friends. Here is what he wrote about Hallee (the acrostic spells her name down the right side):

Happy, fantastic, cook (I noticed he didn't say the same about me--LOL), best sister alive (I made sure his litte sister, Regyn didn't see this poem)
Apple (I have no idea what this means in regards to Hallee--he must have been desperate for a word), caring, smells good, beautiful (is that sweet or what?)
Laugh, lovely, wonderful, smart
Learn, cool, fast, amazing
Enchilada (again, not sure where that word came from), good artist, November (her birthday month)
Each day she is awesome (my personal favorite)

This little poem just made me smile clear to my toes. I think it's magical when siblings share their true feelings of love and admiration for each other, even if it's just in writing. So awesome!

Lastly from Nate--this note I found on the shower wall when I went in to shower the other day. He used Berkley's bath foam letters to leave me a message. It brought tears to my eyes--not because it's that profound or anything, but because he was thinking of me, and the thoughts he had for me were positive. Man, moms need notes of encouragement like this regularly! It was such a great way to start my day. I just smiled all day long every time I thought about it.

Hallee and I also have a note-system we use from time to time, one I've come to love. In fact, just recently, I had a really bad day. I felt awful inside and decided to go for a little drive to clear my head. When I got back, our signature notebook was on my pillow with a note from Hallee telling me how much she loved me and what a great mom I am. I appreciated her words of encouragement more than she could know. Her thoughtfulness gave me the courage to keep going, to not give up.

How I love these children of mine. I know I say it all the time, but I can't help it. Every day, the wonder of this life I am living as their mother overwhelms me and fills me with purpose and love and deep, deep gratitude.

So, if you haven't left a note for someone you love lately, why not do it today? You never know when it will reach to their very cores and help them realize their worth and potential. I am learning that love--no matter how it's expressed--is what makes life so great.