22 March 2011

little things

Today I am awed at how impacting little, largely inconsequential things are.  Yonah was having a very hard time missing Kim tonight, feeling sick in his heart, and then suddenly we discovered that his aunt had found his little penny wallet.  This penny wallet is a little cool, admittedly - it's for the pressed pennies you can get at different places for 50 cents.  But ultimately, it's this little dinky thing that Yonah would never even miss, despite his love of pressed pennies.

But Kim got it for him.  So even though it really has no real significance, this penny wallet is one of Yonah's most prized possessions.  Just holding it makes him feel less lonely.  It's not as effective as the Iraqi head covering (shirral, I believe it's spelled) that Kim sent him - it's basically a large, beautiful kerchief that you wrap around your head.  Yonah prefers to wrap it around himself like a blanket, or a shawl.  I've told him that since Kim gets him things like this because he loves him, some of that love gets put in the object.  A bit sentimental, perhaps, but the result is that when he wraps that shirral around himself, he feels like he's wrapping himself up in that love.  It's as close to a Daddy hug as he'll be able to get while Kim is gone.

In the end, it's those little things that don't really matter that keep us sane.

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