When Your Hands Are Full

I handed her 3 oranges and said "Now, hold all of these with your hands out like this". For some reason I thought my request was easy and reasonable. Her little 5 year old hands opened up and the three oranges quickly became too much to manage. Two of them dropped immediately on the ground and she apologized like she had done something wrong. I forget her hands are so small.

We made an adjustment and I said "Well, let's try stacking them and you can use your belly to balance them". That worked much better.

As her mom, I notice everything you may not see about this picture. I think her shirt was on backwards. Her little arms, and the peeking of a skirt she loves to wear a lot. There's a few remaining specs of nail polish on her nails, and I know what 2 fingers she still sucks at night, much to the dismay of the dentist.

During the day her hands help her play with her babies, write her letters and hold her pink blanket that is very "well-loved." She is well-loved. Her sister's know her as "sissy" and she takes great care of them when she's not having to defend her toys or artwork.

From the time she was born, I knew she would have long fingers...I thought about what she might do with her hands one day, what art would she create, or what music would she play. Whose hands would she hold?

Sometimes I feel like she did when I handed her 3 large oranges too big for her hands. I go day to day hoping I don't "drop" something and I can keep it all together. Are your hands full of something today? You don't have to carry everything at once. Maybe if you put something down for a while, you will have room for something better, or easier for you to handle.

I wish you a happy weekend, full of good things and not a sense of being overwhelmed. Give over your handfuls of whatever you are holding onto, share them with a friend and focus on what matters. Your hands are only so big and are meant for great things!