Every now and then I go on a cleaning spree. Don't get me wrong, I do my best to keep my house livable and germ-free on a daily basis, but every now and then I go into ninja mode and the house will be spotless from top to bottom. Heaven forbid anyone come in tracking an extra muddy footprint, or decide that they are suddenly hungry and head to the kitchen to start a new cooking disaster. During this all-out ninja mode, my vision is better than a hawk's and I can spot a crumb from a mile away, buried in the carpet even.
I recently went all-out ninja mode, and thinking I was done, settled down into a chair at the kitchen table. Do you know what I saw? I saw hand prints. There were nearly half a dozen smeared hand prints all over the glass window! Do you think I became unglued? If it had been any other mess, any other smudge or speck of dirt, I would have; but these were finger prints. Hand prints. The tiny hands of my children and before I had the chance to lose my cool, I had been propelled backwards into the past, many years ago.
You see, a very good couple that we knew had lost their little boy. We don't know why; he was just sick with a fever, threw-up and passed away in the blink of an eye. It was a tumultuous time for them and everyone around them. Right after, I used to wake up in the middle of the night because I could hear a child crying, but when I went to check on my own babies, they were each fast asleep. The crying would continually echo in my ears. As awful as I felt, I could never begin to imagine the pain that sweet couple had to endure.
There's a few things I know about their story. I know that after they left the hospital that night, they did not go home. They stayed with family, or perhaps friends. They didn't return home for weeks. And when they did, the first thing that precious mother saw when she opened the front door, was a sliding glass back door covered with her son's smudged hand prints.
I'd never be able to wash that back door, and suddenly, I couldn't even wash my own window. Would you?
