Good morning…
This Memorial Day morn, I think of my grandparent’s generation, a generation which was heavy laden with the effects of war. Just yesterday, I was reading one of my old journals entries dated August 27, 2005. Back then I wrote these words.
“I’m drawn to the note attached to the quilt that covers the old oak rocker for my writer’s desk. The note, beautifully etched in my grandmother’s handwriting, reads: ‘ The Quilt, called “Grandmother’s Flower Garden,” is the first quilt I made. I added a note to my Christmas card that year and told my family and friends I was starting a quilt. If they would send me material scraps from their sewing, I would make a block of their cloth. So there are many people in the quilt. My Aunt Etts from Newton, Iowa. My mother from Omaha, Nebraska. My sisters Opal, Edna, Bessie, Helena and my cousins and friends and my neighbors contributed pieces of material left from their aprons and dresses. One block is from your mother’s brownie dress, pieces left after I made Ellen and Marie’s school dresses, and even a block of material left over from Grandpa’s pajamas. Grandpa was so interested in the the quilt that he made me a lovely quilting frame. I made this “Grandmother’s Flower Garden” quilt in 1954 and 1955.'”
Over sixty years ago, my grandmother was working diligently on this colorful quilt, sewing together scraps from the lives of her special loved ones. This Memorial Day morning, let us gather grateful scraps of all who have contributed pieces of sacrificial love to the quilt of our lives, as a nation and as individuals enjoying the freedoms of our country.
…settle down and be faithful in this country I gave your ancestors (Jeremiah 35:15b (MSG).
…Sue…
