I Have Your Hand, Mommy

I don’t need to see, mommy. I have your hand.”

My 8-year-old daughter uttered these words as she pulled her stocking cap over her eyes while we walked the rugged trails of our local forest. I quickly told her to pull her hat up because there were too many hazards for her to navigate blindly, but I let those words settle into all the soft mommy-heart spots. 

“I don’t need to see, mommy. I have your hand.” She uttered these words without thinking much about how they affected me, but those words were so saturated in everything. Everything endearing, terrifying, and incredible. It made me think a lot about what is going on in the world right now. How these paths we are treading as citizens are rugged as well, but we’re doing our best to lead our kids through them.

As parents, there is no handbook for how to handle a pandemic, and our kids sure don’t know what’s going on either. They are looking to us for what is right, and that is daunting. 

Blind Trust

Like so many other obstacles in life, our kids blindly trust us to navigate them through safely. It is a responsibility that is incredibly large, especially right now as we move them over the rough terrain of something as scary as this virus. But because my kids have my hand, they watch their mom and dad stay home to take care of our family. Stay home to take care of our friends. And stay home to take care of millions of people we have never met. We have to stay home to pray for those unable to do the same as their essential work has them on the front lines of this pandemic.

Words Last Forever

Right now, the forest may be the one place we’re still allowed to go together, but this is only for a little while, not forever. I remind my daughter this is temporary, and I tell myself the same. A virus is fleeting. It will be gone before we know it. However, I can’t say the same for my baby girl’s words. “I don’t need to see, mommy. I’ve got your hand,” is a statement I will cherish forever.