Throwback Thursday-Pumping me up

Note: Many people do Throwback Thursdays on Instagram or blogs by posting a picture of themselves from the past. I am using Throwback Thursdays to write stories from my past. Hope you enjoy taking a trip with me down memory lane! 

When I was a little girl I loved sitting next to my dad or walking with him and holding his hand. He started a little thing with me that when I ran up to him and slipped my hand in his he would ‘pump me up.’ That meant he would start squeezing my hand quickly and repetitively, and because his hand was so much larger than mine it would squeeze out the excess air and make a sound like a bike pump pumping up a tire.

After a while instead of my dad initiating the pumping, I remember I would run up to him, grab his hand and say, “Pump me up dad!” And he would smile and sit there and pump my hand while I listened to the sound it made. I would always try to do it back to him, which of course didn’t work with my little hand. It was a simple thing that made me happy as a little girl.

I remember one time in college I had come home for a few days during the summer. I was really sick and trying to recover, and was also stressing about the new school year that was coming. I remember one day sitting down next to my dad, putting my head on his shoulder and saying, “Dad, can you pump me up?” He smiled and put his arm around me, he held my hand, and just like when I was a little girl he pumped me up. Of course he also pumped me up physically, spiritually and emotionally as he told me he loved me and expressed his confidence in me that I could succeed and do well in school.

Now a few times when I’m holding my own kid’s hands, I tell them I’m going to ‘pump them up.’ I love watching them put their ears up to our hands, trying to figure out how the sound is made, or feel them squeeze my hand back as they try to replicate it. I hope my husband and I, just like my parents did for me,  are also giving them the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual pumping up they will need as they grow in this life.

Me and my dad. :)