As I sit here holding the little hummingbird wing onto the
little acrylic hummingbird fan pull for the second time in its life, I wonder how many hundreds of things I’ve
glued back together through the years.
Pieces of bone china angel wings , the lenox vase, picture frames, pieces
of this, pieces of that, hummingbird wings. I have a stockpile of things that are still
broken and still need repair. Things most people would throw away, and my
children most certainly will when they go through my “things” after me, wondering what in the world they are and why
in the world I saved them. But here I
sit with my little hummingbird, patiently waiting for the glue to dry so I can
finish my other chores around the house.
I gave the hummingbird fan pull to my dad one year after he
reached the stage of “whatever- I- want-or-need-I-just-go-get-so-there’s-nothing-really-you-can-get-me-for-a-present”. It might have cost $12.95. Or less.
Who remembers? But he loved
hummingbirds, and the ceiling fan in the den of the house in Paris , Tx
I don’t remember how it broke. One of the sons, or son-in-laws, probably
throwing something -- doesn’t matter. I
stuck the wing tip in the desk drawer for repair at some later date, when I had
time to patiently hold the wing on for a few minutes. Don’t really have time today, but here I sit,
typing with one hand, holding the hummingbird wing with the other, and thinking about gluing things together.
One of the first things we learned in our marriage was
this: Everything I have, I have because
God has given me. And one of the first
things I learned about parenting was this:
children are more valuable than things.
Maybe that’s the reason for all the glue. They never really meant to break things, just like they never really meant to spill
things. It wasn’t ever
premeditated. They act childish, they are
children, after all. Accidents
happen. Fine motor skills are much
harder to master than gross motor skills.
Eyes get big, lips quiver. They
weren’t concerned with getting spanked, they were just petrified of
disappointing me or seeing a tear roll out of my eye and finding out they had just destroyed another
family heirloom that had belonged to my precious grandmother. So I tried hard to be nonchalant, hugged them
tight and said, “It’s o.k. baby, it’s not eternal.” Because I believed it with all my heart…
Things are just things. They’ll
burn. But kids ARE eternal, and molding
those little hearts was the most important thing in all the world.
I remember sighing deep down inside every time the Lenox
vase got knocked over and another piece chipped off. It was maybe the only thing we owned
that was really valuable (as the world sees it), and had been given to us as a
wedding gift. We would have never had
the privilege to, or been able to splurge enough to, buy one for
ourselves. So I glued. In fact I glued until it would no longer hold
water. A few Christmases back, Mom thoughtfully
gifted me with an identical replacement vase she spent hours searching for. And how my heart smiled!
So this Christmas I glued the camel foot back on, Joseph’s
hand back on Joseph’s arm, and Joseph’s arm back on his body, and now the
hummingbird wing again. Everything I have, I still
have because God has given me. And children
are still more valuable than things. And
thankfully, that will never change around here.
