Little Things Long Remembered

It's me again! This is Kate's guest post on yet another hump day. After reading SSM's post yesterday about THE slumber party and recently running across a certain book, I have been thinking about some things. I bet you all will have some comments on this one and I would love for you to share them!!! So, here goes....

Have you heard of this book? Little Things Long Remembered? It’s by Susan Newman and I highly recommend it. Within each chapter of this hand-size book is a list of things you can do with your family that are, you guessed it, little things that will be long remembered. For example, in the chapter “Weekend Fun”, it suggests preparing a meal for a local shelter, flying a kite, making bread from scratch or raking leaves in a huge pile so your kids can jump in. It suggests doing the kinds of things we usually see in movies or our kids read about in books – but who has the time to bake bread?!?

Every time I run across this book on the shelf, it gives me pause. What do I do for my family that will serve as little things long remembered? If I should take my children to school and die in a car accident on the way back home (if that really does happen, somebody please fix my hair before they haul me off because I never brush it during the morning rush), how would my children remember me? I sorta think my younger child would think I often confused my cellphone for an earring. What kind of legacy would I leave behind? I read something once that said it is the responsibility of us mothers to pass down our stories to our daughters. A certain amount of descretion is assumed. :)

I have an 11 year old daughter and occassionally she will tell me something from her younger years that I never dreamed she would remember. When she was in elementary school, she would take her lunch to school sometimes and I would slip a note in her lunchbox without her seeing. Simply because I am no poet (really, you'll see below), I would always start the note with "Roses are red, violets are blue, etc." Very matter of factly she recently told me that she has a box in her room with every note I had put in her lunchbox throughout the years! Whoa! I'll bet you are doing something now that you don't even realize will be long remembered.

In the day-to-day grind, I often forget I have a story...or an audience in my children...or little things to offer for them to long remember. But we are mothers and we all do!

So, in closing,

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Find something little today and make it big!
That's my wish for your family and you.

Lots of Wednesday love!
Kate