Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time there lived a small girl. Quite small. When she was a newborn, you could practically put her in your pocket and carry her around.

Her birthmother was a drunk. The inebriated woman staggered into the hospital, had a baby and two days later she disappeared.

The nurses called the child Thumbelina. So that’s what we’ll call her, too.

Thumbelina’s little face looked perfectly scrunched up. Her hands were itty-bitty and looked like doll hands. All the maternity nurses said they wanted to eat her up.

But Thumbelina’s size did not work in her favor. It was the reason nobody wanted to adopt her. At the group home, she was often glanced over with disapproving stares, for she appeared to be underweight. The runt of the litter.

People associate small size with sickness. And not everyone adopting has room for a sickly child.

So Thumbelina began her life alone. She lived in many group homes throughout the 1950s. She moved in and out of foster care. She learned what it feels like to be a pinball.

She was a quiet child, it seemed as though she was unable to speak. Maybe she was going deaf? Perhaps she was mute? They had her tested. No hearing troubles, the doc said. No vocal problems. She was just a natural stoic.

This, too, worked against Thumbelina. Nobody wants to adopt a sullen child who has about as much to say as a municipal fire hydrant.

One of Thumb’s great talents was art. She loved to draw. You could put Thumb in a corner with a pencil and a notebook and she would draw for many hours.

Mostly, she liked to draw countrysides, with pretty flowers. Places she wanted to visit someday. Distant lands where people were nice, and everyone loved orphan girls, even if they were smaller than the rest.

Also poems. Little Thumb loved poems. There was a time in America when all average children cared about poetry. When common schoolkids were forced to memorize long passages of American verse, poetry, and presidential addresses at gunpoint.

Shortly after Thumb’s tenth birthday, an old woman came to work at the group home. The woman was tall, with a mane of white hair that looked like dandelion fuzz. She wore a pink floral dress, three-inch-thick nylons and the most glorious pair of cateye glasses.

The woman had already raised four children of her own, back in Maine. They were all grown now. So she knew a thing or two about mothering.

The old woman looked over all the orphan children with a an appraising eye.

When she came to Thumb, the woman remarked, “Lord have mercy, child, you’re awfully small, aren’t you? How old are you?”

Thumbelina told her.

“Lord have mercy,” the woman said. “I’ve never seen a girl so puny. You can’t possibly be 10 years old. You’re pulling my leg.”

But Thumb didn’t pull legs. Her hands weren’t nearly big enough for leg pulling.

Whereupon the old woman brought the girl into the kitchen to help cook supper. She sat little Thumb on the counter and taught her to peel carrots, chop onions, and how to lick the spoon after you make sugar cookies.

The old woman loved all the children at the home. But over the years, it was Thumbelina whom Oldy-Locks came to love the best.

And so it was, one spring day the old woman announced she would be leaving the group home and moving back to Maine.

Little Thumb heard this and fled outside. She felt her world evaporate. She wept until her little heart almost quit beating. Until her tears wet the soil beneath her.

The old woman found Thumb on the swingset, sobbing.

“Why are you crying, child?”

Thumb told the old woman that everyone she ever loved had left her. All her friends were adopted. All her foster guardians were now fostering other kids. All the group home workers eventually had children of their own and left the home. Thumb had nobody. And probably never would.

The old woman sat beside Thumbelina. She smiled and touched the child’s hair. She said, “What would you say if I told you that you will be coming to Maine with me?”

Life was never the same again.

The old woman had 22 years of mothering left in her. And she gave them to Thumb.

Little Thumb grew up to become the steadfast mother of eight beautiful children. Each of her girls were lovely, albeit tiny. All her boys were handsome, albeit rather short. And each child grew up to bless their mother’s name. Forever and ever.

And today, even though Thumbelina now rests in a small cemetery in Northern Maine, her sons and daughters can only say of her that she is again with the old woman who brought her here to this beatific state.

Today, they are in a distant land. Far, far away. Together. In a countryside with pretty flowers.

Where they now live happily ever after.

30 comments

  1. Debbie - September 18, 2022 7:11 am

    Sweetest story I’ve ever heard. 🥲

    Reply
  2. Eulan Schmidt - September 18, 2022 8:39 am

    What a beautiful story!! Loved it!

    Reply
  3. oldlibrariansshelf - September 18, 2022 9:15 am

    Wow! Thanks, Sean, for your BIG heart and the discipline to write for us every single day.

    Reply
  4. Leigh Amiot - September 18, 2022 9:23 am

    “…in a land where they’ll never grow old” 🎶

    Reply
    • Gigi - September 22, 2022 1:19 pm

      One of my favorite songs, makes me cry every time we sing it. 🎶

      Reply
  5. Melissa Norman - September 18, 2022 9:47 am

    Poetic justice for a story well written!!! My first new doll was Thumbelina back in the 60’s. Memories are stirring. Smile on my face!!!

    Reply
  6. Ann - September 18, 2022 10:24 am

    Sunday live at its best…May God bless you all.

    Reply
  7. Suellen - September 18, 2022 10:57 am

    Each one of us needs someone who will listen and spend time with us and most important love us. God bless those who have love to spare for these little ones.

    Reply
  8. Alison - September 18, 2022 11:00 am

    Lovely tale!

    Reply
  9. Joy Jacobs - September 18, 2022 11:31 am

    Sweet ❤️❤️

    Reply
  10. chip plyler - September 18, 2022 11:38 am

    Wow… beautiful!!

    Reply
  11. mccutchen52 - September 18, 2022 12:27 pm

    I enjoyed that story this morning.

    Reply
  12. Diana - September 18, 2022 12:28 pm

    Lovely story and I always love a happy ending.

    Reply
  13. Hawk - September 18, 2022 1:14 pm

    If you’ve ever been loved unconditionally, then you know how God feels. He would never separate two such strongly attached souls. To borrow a line from Poe; there is no greater bonding emotion than “to love and be loved”.

    Reply
  14. Southern Girl - September 18, 2022 1:39 pm

    Beautiful Sean – searching for a hanky to dry my happy tears.

    Reply
  15. Robin - September 18, 2022 1:51 pm

    ❤️

    Reply
  16. Juanita - September 18, 2022 2:55 pm

    At this time, in this world, we need more stories like this. Thank you.

    Reply
  17. Susie, as well - September 18, 2022 5:08 pm

    Loved this!

    Reply
  18. Cathy M - September 18, 2022 5:59 pm

    What the world needs now is live, sweet love and more true stories like this one. You touched our hearts today but that is not unusual. I will try to imagine the look on Thumb’s face when she found out she was going home with this wonderful lady. Thanks for making my Sunday. This might be ion my top ten favorite list. You rock, Sean❤️🙏🏻

    Reply
  19. Stan - September 18, 2022 7:04 pm

    A tear jerker. We need more of these type stories to give us hope for tomorrow.

    Reply
  20. Linda Moon - September 18, 2022 7:18 pm

    I had just read your post when my “Baby Girl” drove into my driveway. You see, she’s short and was a tiny newborn, therefore the nickname I gave to her has stuck all these years. But I can’t write what I think about the mother you told us about. I might get censored. So, I’m very glad the old woman made LIFE happy for Thumbelina! And later today I can read all comments, thanks to your hard work.

    Reply
  21. Dia Gary - September 18, 2022 8:08 pm

    You make my day.

    Reply
  22. Mary Jean Mullins - September 18, 2022 8:33 pm

    Thank you for this story. Scripture came to mind when I read it it. “Truly I tell you whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. MATTHEW 25: 40 In this case I would think that the old woman did what God was asking her to do. Old lady made a difference in this child’s life. Wouldn’t it be good if we could make a difference in someone else’s life.

    Reply
  23. Steve McCaleb - September 18, 2022 8:54 pm

    Tell me there are no angels in our modern world….and I will call you a ¥£€> liar. I’m working on it Lord, I’m working on it.

    Reply
  24. Karen Snyder - September 19, 2022 2:53 am

    The best stories always have happy endings. ❤️

    Reply
  25. Anne - September 20, 2022 1:14 pm

    beautiful story

    Reply
  26. Philip Riggins - September 20, 2022 8:12 pm

    Wow…. Sean!

    Reply
  27. Ina Walker - September 21, 2022 7:06 pm

    Because of today’s technology I can receive your stories and found your book The Incredible Winston Browne. Came from my library to my Kindle. Thank you!

    Reply
  28. CHARALEEN WRIGHT - October 7, 2022 5:54 am

    ❤️

    Reply
  29. Renee Welton - April 12, 2023 6:47 pm

    This read like fairy tale. I loved it💝

    Reply

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