Meet Katie!

I have a friend/neighbor/stitchin’ buddy who is dear to my heart – her name is Connie. Connie and her husband, Larry, adopted a black faced capuchin monkey a couple of years ago. Katie came to them when she was just a tiny thing and quickly became the darling of everyone who met her. Katie requires a lot of care – bottles and specially prepared food, cages and toys and swings, baby clothes modified to make room for her tail, frequent diaper changes, shots for measles and mumps and anything else human children get. But Connie is the perfect mother. She happily does all the things Mothers do; she loves her and scolds her, she feeds her and diapers her, she sacrifices her “alone time” when she’d like to be sewing to play with Katie after she gets off work, she loves on her when she’s tired and grumpy and yells at her when she’s running wild through the house. Katie is in her “terrible twos” stage of development so that means she has to be taught what is acceptable behavior and what is not. Remember those days when you had to watch them every minute? You were constantly saying, “it’s not polite to throw things at people,” “food is for eating, not for smearing on your face,” “don’t run in the house,” “we don’t put beans in our noses,” “because I said so!” Motherhood is typically a term we reserve for those with human children. This is a tribute to all who have monkeys, cats, dogs, bunnies, birds or others of God’s creatures and who love and care for them. Even the first grade teachers with tarantulas and teenage boys with snakes! And especially for Connie – Happy Mother’s Day!

A Mother's Day Memory

I am one of the blessed ones who had a Mother and two Grandmother's who quilted. As Mother's Day approaches I want to honor my Mom by showing you this beautiful wedding ring quilt she made for me several years ago. She offered to make me a quilt and I made only one request...blue. Who would have thought she'd choose this most difficult pattern? But isn't that what Mother's do for their children? They choose the wing of the chicken for themselves and give you the breast, they spend way too much on your Easter dress and wear last year's dress themselves, they pick the difficult quilt pattern to make for you and wouldn't dream of making it for themselves...sacrifices made and not even thought of as sacrifices. My Mom was a funny lady....I remember one time when my Dad was going to be traveling for a week and asked her to pack his suitcase. Now you have to understand my Mom believed in folks taking care of themselves as much as they were able. And she loved a joke. She packed Daddy's suitcase for him all right, but before she did she sewed the fly shut on all his boxers! She giggled all week when she thought about what she'd done. That was before cell phones and we were so poor Daddy never would have thought of calling home. But you can just imagine what he was thinking! He must have liked her jokes because they were married 63 years when he died! Hope your memories are just as special.