Little Notes

Last week, my youngest, asked, "Mom, did Mamom ever read my note?"

I carefully asked, "When did you write the note?"

"It said, 'I love you,'" he continued, "I put it in her coffin. Don't you remember? Did she read it?"

This was getting a bit delicate. He wanted to know if she had it. With her!

I gave him an honest and gentle answer and assured him that she really knew he loved her whether she was able to read his note or not. Well, he was almost satisfied with my answer, and "almost satisfied" is sometimes the most one can expect when he's busy asking questions.

Little notes were on my mind again this morning as I reflected on that conversation . . .

❦ Another of my children loved to leave little notes to my mother -- everywhere! In her sock drawer, among the kitchen utensils, between lingerie . . . I still find them when I go to visit my dad. They have become sacred little things, and I think everyone leaves them right where they are as they reach around them for whatever they need.

❦ Before the advent of the Post-It® note, my mother had a little box that held a stack of note paper squares. Before I headed back to college one year, I drew a picture on one of them and slipped it into the stack. I knew she would find it one day and smile. A few years later, I reached into the box for a note square, and that little drawing was on the top of the stack. *grin* It's probably still there.

❦ When I was a little girl, Mama was packing to go on a trip with my dad, and I was "helping." Perched on the bed beside her suitcase, I was busy checking out the pockets in which I found a tiny piece of elastic. It was about an inch long and yellowed with age. Somehow I knew it was important as I held it up with a familiar, questioning look on my face. She smiled and said that it was put there by her Aunt Emily to remind her that she was always thinking of her. Then she took me into her closet and began to open her jewelry box, her other suitcases, etc. Those little bits of elastic were all over the place! I was in awe.

❦ My oldest had his own twist on the note-writing idea when he was a little guy:

So, I'm having a busy day today -- busy thinking about little notes.

~ End Quote