{"id":5848,"date":"2013-11-05T03:51:13","date_gmt":"2013-11-05T09:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/?p=5848"},"modified":"2017-08-09T14:33:06","modified_gmt":"2017-08-09T20:33:06","slug":"everyday-lifelines-of-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/2013\/11\/05\/everyday-lifelines-of-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyday Lifelines of Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"
\""The<\/a>

“The world is too big to never ask why
The answers don't fall straight out of the sky
I'm fighting to live and feel alive
But I can't feel a thing without you by my side
Send me out a lifeline.”
–Mat Kearney<\/p><\/div>\n

I grew up seeing handwritten notes as expressions of love. My mom worked long hours so she often left small, square papers on the bed for my sister and me to find. Sometimes it was just a smiley face, other times she simply wrote the words \u201clove you\u201d in ordinary ballpoint pen, but it was more than enough.<\/p>\n

Lifelines<\/i><\/p>\n

Starting in elementary school, my mom requested I write notes to my grandma who lived a few hours away. \u00a0What I loved the most is that Grandma always wrote back. The excitement I felt when I looked in the mailbox and saw a letter in my grandma\u2019s shaky letters never disappeared. Even in college when there were tests to study for and social gatherings to attend, I took time to sit on my narrow bed and read my grandma\u2019s letters the moment they arrived. By studying her handwriting, I could almost tell how she\u2019d been feeling that day. In the end, her manuscript became barely legible. Those notes are now treasures.<\/p>\n

Lifelines<\/i><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll never forget when the guy I was dating my senior year in college had a family emergency and to take a sudden trip home. Sometime during the middle of the night, he\u2019d dropped off a handwritten note telling me why he had to leave. A handwritten note of this nature from this particular guy seemed like a really big deal, and I felt incredibly excited by it. I tucked it away for safekeeping not knowing that note would be the first of many special letters from my husband.<\/p>\n

Lifelines<\/i><\/p>\n

The words, \u201cI\u2019m proud of you,\u201d from my dad written in his signature black felt-tip pen, birthday notes from friends containing funny memories, and cards from my former students written in precious kid penmanship are all lifelines I can\u2019t bear to throw away.<\/p>\n

But I have to tell you, my greatest lifelines have come from my youngest daughter, Avery. Around the time I woke up to the fact that I was missing my life, my daughter was learning to write words. As I took small steps to be more present in her life, she began writing me love notes. Although I\u2019m sure the timing was purely coincidently, these powerful visuals fueled my steps to let go of distraction and perfection.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"lifelines<\/a><\/p>\n

I began to banish the \u201churry ups.\u201d I stopped skipping the goodbye hug that I thought we didn\u2019t have time for. I looked into her eyes when she spoke. I even paused for 30 seconds during the frantic morning lunch-making process to place a sticky note in the lunch box.<\/p>\n

One day I put a yellow Post-It note on her sandwich not realizing there was a blank one attached to it. When I cleaned out her lunch box that night, my note had multiplied. I cried when I saw she\u2019d written the same thing as me.<\/p>\n

\""I<\/a>

“I love you Avery”<\/p><\/div>\n

Throw out a line\u2014it has a way of coming back to you.<\/i><\/p>\n

I reached up and stuck my daughter\u2019s note on the cabinet where the sandwich bread was stored as a source of daily encouragement. A few days later, I posted another one of her notes in the pantry where the cereal was kept, then another in my clothes closet where I got dressed, and another on the bathroom mirror where I brushed my teeth.<\/p>\n

\""I<\/a>

“I love you so much. I will love you for my hol intier life.” (whole entire life)<\/p><\/div>\n

Wherever I turned, there were my signs of encouragement shaking me from my hurried, distracted, perfectionistic, and tech-obsessed state.<\/p>\n

Lifelines<\/i><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been three years since I began my Hands Free journey, but my daughter\u2019s lifelines are still posted. Now they are not so much for encouragement as they are reminders\u2014reminders that time is fleeting.<\/p>\n

Because the backwards letters have disappeared.<\/p>\n

The floating letters have become grounded on stable lines.<\/p>\n

The untraditional spelling has become traditional.<\/p>\n

Letters are no longer gigantic, but rather small and dainty.<\/p>\n

But the love, the love is still there.<\/p>\n

\"lifelines<\/a><\/p>\n

Lifelines<\/i><\/p>\n

Throw out a line\u2014it has a way of coming back to you.<\/i><\/p>\n

Now that you know how important the handwritten note is to me, you will understand why this next part of my story had to be included. You see, a few weeks ago, I received a message from a dad who\u2019s been packing a note in his daughter\u2019s lunch box for nine years. Garth supplied me with a link to his story that was published in The Richmond Times Dispatch<\/i><\/a>. I share two portions of the article that made a tremendous impact on me:<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time Emma was 8 or 9, she had come to expect those notes. On mornings when she beat him downstairs only to find a note-less lunchbox, she\u2019d actually come to him looking for the note, he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018That\u2019s when I realized, this is something that really matters.\u2019”<\/p>\n

After having a cancerous tumor removed, Garth came into the dining room to find his daughter ripping up the napkin:<\/p>\n

\u201cHeartbroken, he thought he\u2019d done something wrong.<\/p>\n

Turns out Emma had been saving her napkin notes in a little black-and-white composition book. Opening the pages, he saw strips of napkins \u2013 only the parts he wrote on \u2013 neatly glued to the pages \u2026<\/p>\n

\"Napkin<\/a><\/p>\n

When her father got sick, however, \u2018I was really worried. I really wanted to have a piece of him with me,\u2019 Emma said.<\/p>\n

Today, she still keeps some of her notes, but not all.<\/p>\n

\u2018I mean, they are napkins, so they do get thrown away,\u2019 she said matter-of-factly.<\/p>\n

Emma acknowledges that she tries every day to wait until lunchtime to see what her dad wrote. Occasionally, when she grabs a snack out of her lunch bag, she peeks.<\/p>\n

\u2018It helps me to have something to look forward to,\u2019 she said.\u201d\u00a0[source<\/a>]<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t believe it\u2014a self professed \u201ccomputer guy\u201d who loves his iPhone wrote to tell me he writes \u201cNapkin Notes\u201d to his daughter as a means of staying connected throughout the busyness of life. And he called it, \u201csomething that really matters.\u201d Garth told me it is his dream to leave a legacy for his daughter by telling as many people as possible about the power of a handwritten note in a lunchbox.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d say he came to the right place, wouldn\u2019t you? After all, it was this community that recently rose to Natalie\u2019s Dollar Challenge<\/a> and mailed thousands of \u201clifelines\u201d to a special couple trying to raise enough money to adopt their baby.\u00a0 And because of the thousands<\/i> of letters you sent containing a single dollar bill, Amanda is in Uganda<\/a> at this very moment<\/i> getting to know her precious two-year-old son, John.<\/p>\n

\"Lifelines<\/a>

Amanda's mailbox looked like this day after day because of you.<\/p><\/div>\n

Lifelines<\/i><\/p>\n

Throw out a line\u2014it has a way of coming back to you.<\/i><\/p>\n

Garth and his Napkin Notes have been a persistent thought in my head these days. He is currently recovering from another surgery related to his kidney cancer and perhaps as a means of sending goodwill to Garth, I\u2019ve been doing my own version of the Napkin Note. As you know, I am a lover of the Post-It note, so Garth has inspired me to take 30 seconds to tuck a colorful square inside a guitar case, on a pillow, next to a plate of scrambled eggs, or in a coat pocket on a chilly day.<\/p>\n

All I have to do is imagine the smile on the face of the one who discovers it and I feel good too.<\/p>\n

Lifelines<\/i><\/p>\n

They have a way of creating connection despite the busyness of life.<\/i><\/p>\n

What calms a child\u2019s school day fears can be found in the smiley face above the letter \u201ci\u201d or in the curve of an imperfect heart.<\/p>\n

What creates hope in the heart of a weary waitress can be scrawled on a napkin and left on the table.<\/p>\n

What makes a friend feel beautiful can be written in a neon-colored Sharpie and stuck on the windshield of her car.<\/p>\n

What brings our distracted mind back home can be a stick-figure family drawn beneath a giant yellow sun.<\/p>\n

What we believed in and how we loved can be seen in our own handwriting 50 years from now, even after we\u2019re gone.<\/p>\n

What really matters in life is literally at our fingertips\u2014at our fingertips.<\/p>\n

So grab a pen and anything you can find to write on, my friends.<\/p>\n

Throw out a lifeline.<\/p>\n

Watch love multiply.<\/p>\n

And may it come back to you when you least expect it, but need it the most.<\/p>\n

\"unexpected<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*******************<\/p>\n

So you may have noticed a new look here at my website. The hand-lettered design was a dream I had for my Hands Free Mama book cover that through the help of many amazing individuals was carried into my logo and website.\u00a0 To me, the hand-lettered font you see here represents where I came from (filling notebooks starting at age 8) and where I always want to be.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

A big thank you to: Jay & Kristi at Juicebox Designs<\/a>, Julie at Blogger Boutique<\/a>, Erin at For the Love of Letters<\/a>, my sister-in-law Stacie, and my entire family at Zondervan & HarperCollins Publishing for bringing my childhood dream to life and enabling me to cast my Hands Free lifelines into the atmosphere through weekly blog posts and now a book<\/a>!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Friends, I hope you will consider throwing out a lifeline to my new friend Garth and his daughter Emma. “Like” his Facebook page<\/a> or blog<\/a>. \u00a0Spread his story<\/a>. Share this post. Write a note and take a picture and post it to his Facebook page, The Hands Free Revolution page<\/a>, or email it to rachelstafford@handsfreemama.com. Let Garth know he has made a difference in one life today.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

*Thank you for being so awesome! I love sharing this journey to a more meaningful and connected life with you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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