Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Trying to Understand... Baby Boxes

Yesterday, I noticed that my daughter's eyemakeup was a little smudged and asked her if anything was wrong. She replied nothing was wrong. She had just gotten a little teary eyed going through her baby box. She obviously didn't want to talk about it so I let the matter drop and vowed to investigate.
Early this morning, after she left for exams, I got out her baby box. I don't know how many mothers have created baby boxes, but I got the idea from my mother-in-law. It's just a box with things thrown in-with hopes of organizing it one day. My kids are 22, 20, and 18 and I've never organized these boxes. They have scrap books and baby books that are somewhat organized, but the baby boxes remain unorganized chaos. I've tried.I haven't worked in three months, but nothing in those boxes will ever hit the trash with me doing the organizing.
There's finger prints courtesy of boy scout and girl scout safety days. There are report cards and progress reports. There are birthday cards. Some team pictures for basketball and softball. It holds uniforms for girl scouts, softball, and dance.
What made her cry? Was it the pictures-taken at Christmas time? She probably didn't realize those were her very first Christmas pictures. Maybe it was the baby outfit, but she wouldn't know that was what she wore home from the hospital. She was too young to remember the Baptismal candle or most of the artwork saved in the box. She might remember the stuffed fox that she held during a beauty pageant(she refused to give it up and no bribing would work).
I really don't know what made her cry, but it made me cry too. I miss my "little" babies, but part of my tears were for joy. I'm so glad that there are so many happy memories tucked away in those three boxes. I'm so glad that I was too busy living life to organize it. Let chaos reign.

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