Paper Hugs are easy to make!

• Trace your hand on colored paper
• cut two hands
• cut a short piece of string, yarn, or twine (20″ to 24″)
• tape each end on to one of the hands

Now you can hang it from a branch,  bush or attach it to a wire or wooden stake and place it on a loved one’s grave.  This is a great way to help children remember family and friends that have passed on.

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Looking for ideas to honor someone this Memorial Day? Make a paper hug!!! A picture speaks a thousand words.

I never saw Grandpa face to face, you see he died just before I was born.  He lived a hero’s life — he died so I could live free.  He fought for freedom in Germany and France.  He waded through river banks and slept in a cold abandoned shed.  He spent time in a make-shift hospital healing from a shrapnel wound.  And as he boarded a train with discharge papers in his hand, a gunshot was heard.  With reflexes faster than the bullet, he lunged in front of three other soldiers who all fell to the ground.  They were safe but Grandpa lay there lifeless — he took the bullet for those men.  A letter was found in his pocket addressed to my grandma.  That same letter is with l my grandma always and she reads it over and over.  It says how much he loves her and asks her to tell his story to his grand children so they will know he, too, loves them.  And…”could you hug them for me as often as you hug them.”  So today, Grandpa, on this Memorial Day, as I stand next to your grave, here’s a paper hug from me — I love you, too.

A group of soldiers returned home from a year-long deployment in Afghanistan yesterday. I imagined a young boy studying each soldier as he came down the escalator to meet his waiting family. “Nope, not him. Nope, not her.” he would say ever so soft. His heart was pounding as each soldier passed by — was it Dad, yet? His anticipation filled his entire body. Then, all at once time froze. At the top of the escalator stood a man — 10 feet tall to the little boy. He stood there silently, glanced for a moment and then their eyes met. There his dad stood at attention, saluting the young boy. The anticipation could no longer be contained in his little body. Tears flowed from his eyes as he ran to his dad who flew just as fast down the escalator. The physical reunion was powerful. The bond of love could be felt by all those who witnessed the scene. There was silence as the crowd watched, totally absorbed in the moment. Then, as if by cue, a thunder of applause sounded. The two hugged and kissed. As his dad set him down, he reached in his pocket and pulled out a tattered paper hug and pressed it in his son’s hand. Only a few could hear his words, “Your hug stayed with me and now it is yours to remember our love.” Another hug followed.

This Memorial Day remember our loved ones — all of them. A hug to each of them!