Holding Hands

I have a vivid childhood memory of walking through the Jefferson City Mall (right by Hallmark, going down the little walking ramp) holding my mom's hand. I remember her singing the Beatles' classic, 'I want to Hold your Hand' as we did it.

As this is such a great memory, I have always wanted to be a hand-holder with my kids. Three memories have come to mind lately regarding hand-holding that I wanted to record largely because they are sweet, but also because I know I will forget them if I don't record them, and there will be a day (too soon I fear!) when the participants will not believe it really happened! :)

1. When we flew home to the US this year, Jack (just having turned six) was particularly worried about the take-off on the smaller regional plane that would fly us from Chicago to Kansas City. He loves the big plane that takes us across the ocean, but the little one always shakes more on take-off and he had remembered this from the year before. There was much talk about this before our trip. As we boarded the plane, we realised that it was smaller plane than anticipated with one seat on the left side and two seats on the right side. The flight attendant told us that a child could not sit on the one-seat side by themselves so we put Jack and Theo together (Theo got the window and Jack got the aisle), and I sat across the aisle on the one-seat side. Charles sat in the row ahead with Addie on his lap. As we taxied down the runway Jack asked if we could hold hands. Of course, I said yes. So our arms extended into the aisle and met where we held hands. He held very tightly and bravely until we were at cruising altitude.
2. Last Thursday we took our car through the car wash which was desperately needed after the snow that hit London a week earlier. The boys thought it was great having the water spray on us and the car shake as we sat there. Addie didn't share this view. She didn't start crying, but she got visibly upset. I then heard Jack say, 'it's okay Addie. I will hold your hand.' I turned around and sure enough they were holding hands. It helped settle Addie...a bit.
3. Today Jack and I walked to church together. I have been trying to walk most Sundays for exercise. Charles then meets me there and I ride home with him and the kids after the service in the car. Jack has been very keen to walk with me. A few of the Sundays I have indulged his request. Today was one of those. As we started off on our walk. He grabbed my hand and said, 'Mom, can I hold your hand the whole way?'. We did hold hands a good part of the way, but then we started to play the 'don't step on cracks in the sidewalk game' and he made the point that it was easier to succeed if you were not holding hands. He is a very practical kid. And since the saying goes 'Step on the cracks break your mother's back' I thought it was wise to give in! :)

So there you have it - three holding hands stories for the record. Sweet memories.