Well, it’s a week later.   Really it’s six weeks later.  My feet are on Home ground.  Laundry is washed and back where clean belongs.  I’m smelling chicken roasting and soon the gravy will be in it’s boat.

There’s quiet and maybe you know,

quiet is wonderful, good for rest and thinking and

breeds trouble

if  allowed to fill a space for too long without some sort of interruption.

I’m choosing quiet and mostly because my heart needs time,  Mostly

and for me, more than for you maybe, it could be bad, this quiet, if I let it go, let it stew.

Loved people,  friends are reminding me that

quiet, solitude,

needs breath, air, freshness, joy

to make it  healthy, useful.  So, I am receiving yet another gift on this journey of a final goodbye.   God is sending His chosen ones to nudge me.  Remind me not to stay too quiet for too long.

Today

 

I was sewing.  Yes, back to my thread and fabric and machine and iron and it was quiet there.  Sometimes while sewing, I listen to wise people teaching important things about life,

My life.  Sometimes I listen to music and am blessed and praise pours out at the words reminding me of important matters with eternal value.  Like praising God when it’s hard and considering His goodness and His mercy and His care.

Today though, it was quiet.  My choice.  I sewed and thought and thought more and read notes from friends and sewed.

Oh all right…

I cried too.  Just a bit, every once in a while.  I cried when I thought about how Nano would ask me every time we spoke on the phone

“How many aprons have you finished?”  “Send me a picture.”  “Did you find the thread you were looking for?”  “Oh, that’s a good idea to sew the strap like that.”

“Well, I don’t know anything else” was her regular way to end a conversation.

 

 

My mama was, near the end, sewing vicariously through my hands.  Hers wouldn’t do what needed to be done, so I jumped in.  She was excited to think about the upcoming apron market.  The friends, hers/mine who would be there.  The food that would be on the table and the fabric.  Oh the fabric made into apron creations.

I am almost ready

for the first ever

Christmas Apron Market.

Nano won’t be here to see it, or there to hear about it.  She has much better and more wonderful things to do these days.

If however, she COULD be with us, I can assure you she would be in the thick of it all.  She would love to see the ladies and show you the aprons.

In her last days she thought about material and we will think about her when we get together in a few weeks.

APRON MARKET ~ Saturday, November 21st ~ 10:30 AM-1:00 PM

Come and eat with us and buy aprons, for hostess gifts, teacher’s gifts, stocking stuffers and just because.  Let me know if you would like to come.

It’s at my house and I’m getting ready for you

Just yesterday my dear friend Judy (she’s one of those, unknowingly reminding me to stay open and be present) sent me an email with the cutest little message attached.  I loved it and we might laugh but I know back then

1949, it was no laughing matter.  Nano would have had a good chuckle had she read the email.  

 

Thankfully I did not have any visitors other than my neighbor who rang the doorbell just as I was wiping away the first bout of tears.  He wanted to let me know he was taking my old paint cans to the hazardous waste site.  Bless his heart.  Anyway, I was without powder and lipstick, that’s for sure.  I did empty the dishwasher before heading to the sewing room and the washer and dryer were in full swing.  I can assure you that I do from time to time utter a sigh but never approach my sewing  lackadaisically.

I have Christmas aprons and some every day non Christmas aprons.  They are pretty Pretty and I look forward to having you

come ’round and take a look.

When we sorted through Nano’s things I found a box of her sewing stuff.  Thought I might bring it home but after more careful evaluation decided most of it was not worth bringing.  There were a few treasures though.  I chose three pieces of fabric (material) that she had purchased a while back, intending to make aprons and her old apron pattern.  I opened the suitcase earlier, with these few treasures nestled inside.  That’s about when the crying began.  Oh the places that pattern has been.  It’s traveled across the country numerous times and been laid out on many a dining room table, including this one.  It’s a keepsake, for sure and I’m going to put it in a safe place and show it to my grandchildren someday.  When I do I’m going to tell them all about their Nano and I’m going to love them like she would have loved them.