“Hold You!”  A Mother’s Day thought: Her skinned chubby knees were a result of her relentless desire to walk on her own.  “I do it myself!”  She was just a toddler traversing the sidewalks of Japan. She’s all grown up now, learning a new language in a hostile environment facing the onslaught of spiritual, emotional and physical warfare.  Lice, malaria, snakes, fever, ticks, blistering heat and humidity.  This morning Deb’s heart was bursting!  “Honey”, she said to me, “it was much easier when they were small.  I could pick them up and hug ‘em and comfort ‘em and love on ‘em,” as she wiped away the tears.  An image almost three decades old came flooding back.  Our daughter had fallen and was in such pain, her tiny arms reaching skyward, wanting mommy to pick her up, crying, “Hold you!”  Deb would give almost anything today to scoop her up and hold her tight! Motherhood does not end once they leave the nest. A mother’s heart is forever a mother’s heart!