During that time in our relationship Joe made up a simple hand gesture for us to use when we were saying goodbye, something to ease the pain and remind us we'd be seeing each other again soon. At many intervals in our relationship our time spent together was regulated and enforced strongly by his mother. I still remember the rules - we were never allowed to see each other two days in a row, and usually only on a weekend. So essentially we could see each other Friday, but never Saturday because we went to church together and Sunday counted as a day we would be together. We didn't go to school together after my senior year, so for two years we only saw each other twice a week. The thumb kiss gesture helped a lot. It was so sweet and a little goofy.
When I saw The Kissing Hand on the front shelf in the book store display back then I was immediately drawn to it. The concept is so sweet, and the story is about a mother's love for her baby, but the story spoke to me and I bought it on impulse to give to Joe for Christmas. I remember putting it in the shirt box I wrapped for him. The book wasgently placed under a shirt I had gotten him. I'm pretty sure I wrote something on the inside jacket of the book, too.
A few years later, after Joe and I had been married and had our own baby, my mother-in-law found the book and asked if I had ever read it. I started to say yes, as a matter of fact I bought that for Joe for Christmas when we were dating, but before I could finish she started to explain how she bought it for him a few years ago. I'm sure if she would have opened the book she would have seen my handwriting. I felt a little embarrassed and somewhat shocked. The woman buys so many books anyway, why should she remember whether or not she bought something for her son? I never brought it to her attention, because the book is probably special to her and I didn't want to embarrass anybody.
Yesterday when Eleana came home from school she had a picture she had colored and glued. The pictures were based on the story The Kissing Hand, which they had read in class. She had brought home a raccoon puppet she had made the day before and I didn't even think it was related to the book, but it was. I told her we had that book, and we could read it at bedtime if she wanted. She was thrilled.
Bedtime came and I started shuffling through her books in the boxes that sit in the hallway. (Her bookshelf was broken in the move and we haven't replaced it yet). I couldn't find The Kissing Hand. The one I bought for Joe years ago was nowhere to be found, and it was a hardback! I have two copies of The Polar Express - the one Mom got for me with the book on tape and the bell, and the one we bought for Eleana when she had her first Christmas - we have Bearanstein Bears, Care Bears, and Little Critters, but no The Kissing Hand.
Eleana settled for If You Take a Mouse to School. When I was done reading my story I let Joe go in and do his part. They started reading Falling Up last week and they are almost done with all the poems! While he was reading to her I ran down to the garage. I had a feeling, a hunch, that I had seen that book in a box or bag somewhere.
I found a box in the garage that had a bunch of random things in it - unopened toys from her birthday, special Christmas gifts my mother-in-law had bought in London and Ireland, and things we just didn't have time to pack properly. In the bag from my mother-in-law were several books - Zen Shorts, If You Take a Mouse to the Movies, Paddington, and The Kissing Hand. She had gotten the paperback version of the book for E two Christmases ago and I had totally forgot!
I ran upstairs with the books to show Eleana and she was absolutely thrilled. I read it to her when Daddy was done reading his poems and she fell right to sleep. We haven't taught her the thumb kiss yet, but I think we will, it'll be a very sweet family tradition to start I think.
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