Messages of Love

My husband has a knack for picking out the best cards, whether for my birthday, Mother's Day, Christmas, whatever. Usually the card has a visual element that makes it special--a die cut heart or a small handmade collage or my favorite colors. What I like best are the handwritten notes that he adds at the bottom. My first Mother's Day card from him remains a favorite because he wrote a sentence or two about why he thinks I'm a good mother. I really needed to hear that from him then as we were learning how to be newlyweds with a five-year-old in the house.

Through the years, my daughter has given me many notes to treasure as well. One that she made in art camp as a kindergartner rests in the stand-up file tray on my desk. It's a pastel picture of a sunset across the sea, complete with a desert isle and a palm tree. In the colorful sky, she wrote: "Mama, you take good care of me!"

When I get a note that's meaningful, I keep it out or keep it accessible so I can pull it out whenever I want to see it. Re-reading those messages of love or encouragement lifts my spirits again. It's just for a moment, but a life of beauty is made up of little moments of beauty. And I want as many of those moments as possible.