The Old Toy Chest

⚠️ Long, sappy post!

Ok, so I’ve done a lot of these lately. Have mercy! I’m still stuck at home trying my darndest to recover from back surgery so let me do what I do... write! 🙏🏻

I’ve spent the afternoon cleaning out my boy’s rooms, mostly going through the old toy chest that has been stowed away in Jonathan’s closet all these years. (Well, that’s embarrassing !)

Every time Blake came in the room, I’d be sitting there boo-hooing, he’d tear up too, and I’d ask, “Why is all this stuff making me do this?”

“It’s just a lot of sweet memories,” he’d say as he left the room trying to hide that it was getting to him almost as much as it was to me.

Maybe I just miss those little rough neck boys.

Don’t get me wrong!!!!

I don’t want ‘em back! 😬

I wouldn’t trade who they are today for the whole wide world!

But I MIGHT almost give the world just to hold those baby boys and stroke their hair for just ONE little moment again!

You know what?

They never will know how much I loved them then....
Or how much I love them now...

And maybe that hurts a little bit...

Oh that they could REALLY know!!!

So, as I’m rummaging through that mess, y’all, I found link after link of that old snake skin they’ve had forever.

What’s so stupid is that I CANNOT throw it away!

I found caps they had on their noggin’s for what seems to me since the day they were born...

now, just......

hanging there.

I found an old softball that was so beat up from use, it was nearly black with all it’s “scars.”

I found a box of the model cars that David had meticulously built and painted when he was so young. I couldn’t help but think how normal that seemed to me then, but now....

I’m finding myself admiring that kid who loved spending his time doing such constructive things...

And thinking that I sure was blessed to get such a kid!

I found that old set of spurs that Jonathan wore in the Leon Leord oil portrait that hangs on my wall to this day. Sweet kid wore those things all the time!

I found “homework” that they’d done in our homeschool years....

Why was THAT in their TOY chest? 🤷🏼‍♀️

Wow! They sure were smart!

Oh!! And the Batman outfits....

And the guns...

And that old roped belt that Jonathan kept his holster on!

It seemed that everything I picked up made me smile with the thought, “I remember that thing!”

And I held them and soaked the memory of them into my soul for a moment...

And the tears flowed!

I thought about so many of you girls out there that have those growing babies still at home.

You don’t even know that someday you’ll be rummaging through the things that your kids are wearing or putting together or playing with right this second.

And your kids will be through with them...

And they’ll just be there...
With no one to love them anymore.

Except you will!

Oh how you will!!

Stop whatever you’re doing now and look...

NOTHING matters more!

Please don’t let one moment get lost in the whirlwind of life!

As I told my Ivey a few days ago, “Just stop....
You’ve got about 2 more minutes till they’re gone. I promise you it will seem that way!”

So drop whatever you have to and pay attention!

The minutes turn into hours...
The hours turn into days...
The days turn into years...

And in literally what will seem to you like 2 minutes, your house will be filled with boxes and closets full of memories and no one to love them...
but you....

Like only a Momma will ever understand.

I wish you as many memories as I have!

And I hope they’re just as sweet!