Bookmarks

A few years ago when Rachael was in preschool, she colored a skinny slip of paper and proudly brought it home to me. I gushed over the simple art work, told her how much I loved it, and told her that it would make a perfect bookmark. For some reason, this idea of mom loving bookmarks stuck. She made me dozens upon dozens of bookmarks. I could not throw them away because if she saw them in the trash she would have been hurt. I began tucking them away in my top drawer because I could not think of a better place to keep them. I also made sure that she knew I was using one of her bookmarks whenever I was reading. She made me so many that I eventually had to start slipping some of the older ones deep into the recesses of the trash can so that she would not see.

As she has gotten older, she still occasionally brings me a bookmark she has made. The librarian at her school has a supply of bookmarks that she makes from old cards and thicker paper. The children are welcome to take a bookmark home with them if they like, and Rachael will often look through the pile and find one that she thinks I will like and bring it home to me. This simple gesture is one of the sweetest things that Rachael does for me. One way that Rachael shows love is to give a gift or trinket to someone. I know that when she brings me a bookmark, she is really saying, I love you mom.

One day last summer, Rachael made a bookmark holder for me out of envelopes. What a great idea! The envelopes make perfect pockets to store slips of paper inside. In addition to making said holder, she hung it up on an existing nail in the wall in my room, and she filled it full of the bookmarks that I have collected over the years.

As we celebrate love in February, I thought it fitting to post a picture my bookmark holder since the bookmarks were tokens of a sweet little girl's affection for her mother. This is truly one of my most treasured gifts.