This is a house where children live

[loz]

Sorting through papers and computer, general tidy up before going away, I came across this poem, it is one of my favourites and one that many would or could relate to.


THIS IS A HOUSE WHERE CHILDREN LIVE
Your may not find things all in place
Friend, when you enter here
But we're a home where children live
We hold them very dear
And you may find small fingerprints
And smidges on the wall
When the kids are gone we'll clean them up
Right now we're playing ball
For there's one thing of which we're sure
These children are on loan
One day they're always underfoot
Next thing you know they're gone
That’s when we'll have a well-kept house
When they're off on their own
Right now this is where children live
A loved and lived-in-home

[Steve (redding43)]

I like that....hope you don't mind me taking a copy

[Anne]

This is one of my favourites

There used to be so many
Of my finger prints to see
On furniture and walls and things
From sticky, grubby me.

But if you stop and think awhile
You’ll see I’m growing fast
These little moments disappear
You can’t bring back the past.

So here is a small reminder
To keep, not throw away
Of tiny hands and how they looked
To make you smile someday.

I've still got the painted hand prints and poems from both of mine.  Now 31 and 22

[Bluwise]

Lovely, make me go all goose-bumpy.

[Mrs Hyacinth Bouquet]

How lovely those poems are. Thank you for sharing them. Those precious days go way too fast. What a shame they're only on loan to us. Then with the grandchildren, the eldest of mine being almost ready for her first driving lesson.

I hope you won't mind me sharing one of my very favourites with you. It's not about children, but it could be if you were thinking at the time you were reading it, about how you'd spent your time with your children.

THE DASH

I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on her casket from beginning to the end. He noted that first came the date of her birth and spoke of the following date with tears, but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years. For that dash represents all the time that she spent alive on earth and now only those who loved her know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own, the cars, the house, the cash,

 What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard; Are there things you would like to change?

 For you never know how much time is left that can still be rearranged.

 If we could just slow down enough to consider what is true and real

and always try to understand the way other people feel.

 And be less quick to anger and show appreciation more

 and love the people in our lives like we have never loved before.

 If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile,

Remembering that this special dash might only last a little while.

 So when your eulogy is being read with your life’s actions to rehash…

Would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your dash?