It Means I Love You

When I was little, one day at church I was sitting next to my mom on our pew trying to hold still, but really wanting to be wiggling, dancing, playing and well whatever else a tiny person wants to be doing, when I noticed on the back of my mom's hand this little dark pink dot over one of her blood vessels and I quietly asked my mom what it was. She bent over and whispered in my ear that if I pressed it would go away. Sure enough, after I lightly pressed it, it disappeared.

I immediately looked up at my mom, wide-eyed, worried as to where it had gone. She then bent over again and said, "If it comes back, it means I love you." Slowly the red mark reappeared and I looked up at my mom with a huge smile on my face because it came back and that meant something. Throughout my childhood I would often touch my mom's pink dot to see if it would ever not come back but it always did. It was a constant reminder that I was loved.

My mom never treated my siblings and I like we were more important than others, no, she taught us to love others, look for the good in them and appreciate their differances. My mom never spoiled us, but instead taught us how to work hard for the things we got in life. BUT she always made sure we knew we were loved, in so many ways. My mom raised my siblings and I with so much love; a home full of love. I can't wait to one day do the same for my kids.

I was actually rock-climbing at a gym a few weeks ago and was climbing a more challenging route and tried to jump to a hold but instead missed it and some how cut the back of my hand during my fall. The scab that formed on the back of my hand was in the same place and shape as my mom's little pink dot. I actually secretly hoped it would turn into my own pink dot. But it didn't. Oh well, I'll just have to figure out and different subtle way to constantly tell my kids I love them.