What Do You Have in Your Pockets?

I love the treasures that I find in my pockets at the end of a day. They tell me so much about my life and what it centers around, what I value, what I do. -A pair of hand-knit mittens that my friend Michelle made for Ruthie. I love handmade things and on snowy days we take them everywhere we go. Ruthie didn't want to wear them when we first headed outside, but as she ventured out into the snow and inevitably fell down and planted her bare hands in the cold snow she realized that she actually did want her mittens and asked for them. Moms like to be prepared, it makes for fewer tears and a more enjoyable time had by all.

-Some hair ties. Mothers of little girls will understand that a Mom needs an unending supply of these in her pocket.

-Quarters. It was laundry day. One of the domestic arts that has become immeasurably easier in the last hundred years of human history for many in the world. Part of the daily rhythms of my week, the making of a household and a home.

-A stick. This was Anna's 'treasure box', as she called it, and she gave it to me for safekeeping while she played at the playground. This Mom takes her role as guardian of her children's treasures very seriously. What may mean nothing to an adult mind may mean the world to my child. To an active imagination any ordinary, daily object can become anything you want it to be and the line between make-believe and real can become blurred.

-Two rocks. These were Josie's treasures, her 'special rocks' that she picked up at the playground, that she chose as hers from among all the others that could have been had. Yes, they do remember what treasures they gave me to hold and will ask for them later.

-Chapstick. I have to have something in my pockets that is just for me! Mama-care, because I, too, have value as a human being.