Handprints

I finished my WIP, just in time to present it to George last Sunday. We usually don't gift each other on commercial holidays, but I felt compelled to dedicate this piece to our favorite daddy. I traced each of our hands and back-stitched them in our favorite color on linen, then added a quilted border.

I love that Avery's favorite color is brown. We went to the paint store to look at samples for her room, and she picked out Ralph Lauren's Artist Brown. A girl after my own heart. She told me the other day that everything looks good with brown, and that is why she looks good in everything, because she has brown hair, brown eyes and light brown skin. She is the definition of humble.

I haven't figured out how I am going to display the piece yet, or where. It is intended to be a wall hanging. There is a pocket on the back where George can keep his special "To Daddy" notes and drawings. We are going to be very glad we have this record one day, when our children's hands are bigger than our own, and they no longer draw us pictures on a daily basis.

My friend reminded me of the Handprint Poem often used by preschool classes for keepsakes made for parents:

Sometimes you get discouraged

Because I am so small

And always leave my fingerprints

On furniture and walls
But every day I'm growing --

I'll be grown some day

And all those tiny handprints

Will surely fade away
So here's a little handprint

Just so you can recall

Exactly how my fingers looked

When I was very small

This poem is simple and true. I had a melancholy feeling as I was stitching my children's handprints. One day I will miss those same small handprints on the sliding glass door, or fingerprints on the light switch plates, or slimy streaks down the front of the refrigerator. I will no longer be in a rush to wash away those precious tokens left by my children. They are tiny works of art.