A Kiss and a Hug

Every time we visited Grandma…before she’d ever speak she’d smile, hug each one of us then plant a kiss upon our cheeks. And when it was time to leave…”I love you” she would say… this was followed by a hug and a kiss as she sent us on our way. It didn’t take long, at Grandma’s house for each of us to learn… we had to stand in line for her hug and kiss…each waiting for our turn. It’s funny how we went through stages..when it came to Grandma’s hug and kiss… When young we waited impatiently…it was something we didn’t want to miss… Then for a while it’s something we put up with…Grandma’s hug and kiss Until a certain age when once again it became something we didn’t want to miss. I don’t think we realized how much Grandma’s greetings we adored… until the day she wasn’t there to hug or kiss us anymore. I think Grandma understood life is as fragile as it is precious how time moves forward…time moves fast… and so she treated every hug as if it was her first hug and every kiss as if it were her last. It’s one of the lessons she taught us with all those hugs and kisses we amassed… to delight in every moment as if it was our first…and cherish it…in case it is our last. Which is why we all imagine Grandma smiling…on her cloud up in the sky…. whenever she sees us hug and kiss one another when we get together… then hug and kiss again as we say goodbye.