And sometimes, right in the middle of being role models, caregivers, and confidantes, I realize she’s teaching me new things instead of the other way around.
My sister, Nancy, got the family gift and does amazing things, like this. Me, not so much. That didn’t stop Tom and me from making a quilt for Annalyn’s fifth birthday.
Almost as soon as we moved to our new home, it became obvious that a couple of big changes had to happen in order to make Gracie’s legacy/love quilt. You know, like get a new sewing machine and get rid of a china cabinet to make room for it.
And so I am giving a new commandment to you now—love each other just as much as I love you.
John 13:34 TLB
My older sister, Nancy, and me wearing dresses Mama made for us.
But the thing we were doing for love was amply paid back the very first time Gracie and I began working on her quilt. I told her she was going to sit beside me while I sewed. “Oh good, Allie, then you can tell me stories. I love when you tell me family stories!”
Gracie gets it! The quilt will just be the gift wrapping for her budding sense of legacy. Maybe, Dear Reader, the things we do for love are sometimes regifted right back to us.
I am lucky enough to inherit the gift of sewing from our mother and grandmother. Our grandmother could look at something and draw her own pattern. Mamaw saw a Christening dress in the window of an expensive store in Georgia. She drew her own pattern and made it for me. The dress has been worn by at least a dozen of grandchildren and great-grandchildren and is available for the next generation. You have inherited the gift of writing from Daddy. That is just as special.
Wow! I didn’t know that about Mamaw drawing her own patterns. Way cool! Daddy did so many other things in big ways, I never thought of him as a writer. Still appreciate the validation:)