Lately my daughter wants to talk at night after I have read to her and helped her say her prayers before bed. It never fails, she always asks “Mom, can we talk about something?” as she is sitting on my lap. So I ask her what she wants to talk about…it has gone from work and why daddys go to babies to surgery to belly buttons! I have spent more than a week now, every night, rolling up my shirt and talking about belly buttons.
I am in no way saying that belly buttons are not the most fascinating thing upon our bodies, because they are! I, myself, find belly buttons to be one of the great mysteries of God. As a side note…does anyone else have a list of questions that you want to ask God if you get to have a few minuets with him? Well I do!! The first question that is on my list and always will be is “Did Adam and Eve have belly buttons?”…don’t laugh at me, because I am serious, I truly want to know!! The first thing I am checking for after I rise at the resurrection and my body is perfected is if my belly button is still there. A large part of my deep thinking is focused around the complexity of my navel.
Anyway, I know that from daddies to belly buttons doesn’t seem like the most natural progression, but after last year in our lives my daughter’s questions are no surprise to me. I went to the hospital rather large and came home skinny and holding a baby…I had surgery on my belly button and came home looking very frankensteinish…now Grandpa is going to have the same belly button surgery. My Casey has noticed that all belly buttons are different and she points it out a lot! We also have a history of belly button joy in our little family as well…
When Casey was between 6 and 8 months old my husband found a Tiny Love lamb with a DVD and CD. These really are awesome toys and we got all 3 animals for our kids and they love them! These 3 animals have big light up buttons where their belly buttons should be and they sing a song about belly buttons when you push it. They also sync with the tv and interacts with the dvd and also in the car with the cd…they really are awesome.
The problem that these toys have created mostly has affected my husband, in that since the belly button song has been heard he has to sing the song when his belly button is pushed. He tends to wear a t-shirt more often when the kids are in that phase so that he doesn’t have to sing it so much. He is very often seen lying on the floor, his hand covering his belly button, with both kids on top of him trying with all their might to move his hand. I, on the other hand, don’t sing the belly button song…I figure that my poor belly button has given more than its share to my children.
I had a navel ring when I was pregnant with Casey, it was expensive and gorgeous and I loved it!! Now 2 children and 1 surgery later my belly button looks like Dr Frankenstein dug me up and went to town on me. Now I look back on my navel jewelry and wish I could have a belly button fit for that again…alas, my scars prevent that.
As I sit and talk to my daughter about the purpose of belly buttons and she is avid about how it is that her belly button was once connected to me. She gets a look of consternation encompass her face and then points out that hers is different looking than mine. It is almost as if she is trying to fit our belly buttons together like puzzle pieces. And then I go on to tell her that Ryan was also connected to me in the same way…you can almost see the smoke billowing from her ears…then she goes onto some other topic, as if I have worn her thinking cells out. I leave the conversation there and I chuckle to myself as I close her door behind me and go off to find my relaxation before I head to bed.
Here I sit realizing that the small buttons on our bellies teach us some of the most important lessons in our lives…The biggest lesson I have learned is that time does not heal all wounds…all time does is create scar tissue to cover what was once a great big hole in your stomach. I recently heard a quote “It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, (protecting its sanity), covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But, it is never gone.” By Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy
Here’s to belly buttons and the lessons that we can learn…here’s to scar tissue and the way it mutes what once was searing pain…Thank you God for that lesson that you have given us the opportunity to learn.
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