Kissing raccons, dirty hands and seizing... or something like that

Have you ever read the Kissing hand? It’s a cute little story about a cute little raccoon that is nervous about going to school. I was first introduced to this book by Kid1’s Kindergarten teacher the first week of school. Kid1 was my first baby and I was not a super star mother back then (or now), I didn’t have a good schedule down yet, I was unorganized… need I go on? ANYWAY, he was nervous about going to Kindergarten and I was nervous about letting him go. When he came home from school the first day he told me about the Kissing Hand book where a little raccoon’s mom kissed her little raccoons hand and when he missed his mommy he could put his hand on his cheek and think of her because her kiss would stay in his palm all day. He wanted me to kiss his hand and he would kiss mine. This was supposed to make us both feel better….. ?

Can I just say a few things about myself before I finish this story?

Hi, I’m Ashley and I’m a germapobic. The thought of kissing the palm of my little boys filthy hand totally sent me over the edge.

In my mind I was trying to think of ways to get around it, what if I kiss close to his hand? What if I pretend to kiss his hand… you get it. I tried to talk myself into actually doing it but then the thought of where his hands might have been all day made me want to turn and run far away! Lets be completely honest here, he’s a little boy! His hands could have been anywhere! After much thought while he stood there with his hand open and out for me to kiss it I made myself do it and that was that. Just imagine my squished up face and VERY pursed lips… it was gross.

So he didn’t ask me again and I sighed a sigh of relief until…. One year later when Kid2 entered Kindergarten with our favorite teacher and her favorite beginning of the year story. YEP folks, we had to do it all over again! So here we go again, on the way home from school Kid2 was professing her deep love (remember she’s a girly girl) for a “new book that her teacher had read to her” and my stomach started turning! How could this be happening to me again? You guessed it … she hopped out of the car and held open her germy little hand and started towards my face and I wanted to just faint! So again, my mind wandered to where those little filthy hands had been all day- bathrooms, playgrounds, sneezes? I thought I might die! I pursed my lips up as hard as they would go and forced myself to kiss her dirty little kid hand and whew, another year was done.

As you can probably already guessed since I have more kids than Kid1 and 2… I had to do this AGAIN. I have to admit though by the time it was time for Kid3 I had loosened up quite a bit. I was much more relaxed about germs; I wasn’t nearly as grossed out about their little hands. No! I was not on medication! I just grew up a bit and realized it wasn’t as bad as I thought. He came home with the raccoon story… yada yada… raccoon, missing mommy, kiss the dirty little hand and so on and so forth… you get the picture. I kissed the kids hand and he was happy and it was over.

Last night when I put Kid4 to bed she picked a book…. Can you guess which book? Of course it was the Kissing Hand, why wouldn’t it be? I read her the book and we laughed and I tickled her and I kissed her hands…. BOTH OF THEM… because I think in my old age I am much more relaxed than I use to be. This morning I kissed her hands without a menace and she kissed mine and off to school she went with a smile. How wonderful to have a baby so late in life and be able to enjoy instead of worry about her dirty little hands!

The moral of this story- I kissed their hands and lived thru it. Just do it! Seize the moment, enjoy the minute your having with them. Embrace all the little things because if I could go back in time I would kiss them all over! (Maybe not their feet- I haven’t completely lost my mind you know!)

Carpe’ Diem!

Do it now before it's too late!