Gifts of love

A couple of days ago, I received the most lovely gift in the mail. My brother made a lap quilt for me and mailed it to me without my expecting it! It is absolutely beautiful, and it will keep me warm, but that's not what makes it so special. There's a little story behind it.

He and his wife have been retired for several years, and they live in their motorhome exploring the country. Every once-in-a-while, they find a place they like, and they stay for a few months. While they were in Nebraska last winter, he discovered the joys of quilting. It began with him helping his wife with her projects, then evolved to him making his own. I believe they started out making them to send to some type of charity, and that in itself is a beautiful thing.

This past December, he decided to make a lap quilt for our mom. She lives in an apartment alone, and she doesn't get to see any of her kids as much as she'd like (how many of us do?). But she sees him the least because they are travelling, and sometimes tied down with temporary jobs, or other obligations. So, I don't know if he has any idea how much she misses him, or how much this quilt must mean to her, but I know it means the world. When I saw the finished project he had sent my mom, I was so touched. It was just beautiful! Of course, in his humility, he says things like, "Don't look too closely, you'll see the flaws." But it is really lovely.

Well, my sister and I gushed all about it to him and told him what a nice job he had done and how much it meant to our mom. So here we are, two months later and he has created one for each of his three siblings. That's four of these beautiful works of love! He kept it a secret and sent them all out at the same time. They are all made of the same fabrics, so they are very similar, and he sewed them with some very intricate stitch patterns by machine. Each square has a different pattern of stiches; the more I look at it, the more patterns I discover. I had mine for a whole day before I realized that my name is stitched in one square! It is truly a work of art. And then, as if it all weren't amazing enough, he created a square on the back of each one telling the story of the family lap quilts. He included our names and the dates so that "100 years from now, when someone finds them, they'll know the story."

This may be the part that touched me the most. My big brother, who has no children himself, has created a beautiful legacy that I can hand down to my children. I know that so much love went into his work, and while he was stitching these works, he was thinking about us. He thought about each square and stitch and what we'd think when we found all the interesting surprises stitched into each one.

I miss my brother, I haven't seen him in...I'm not sure how long. But it is so nice to know that he was thinking of me while he worked on my gift. And when I'm cold and get to wrap myself up in it, I'll feel a little closer to him. Years from now, when my grandchildren wrap themselves up in it, I hope they'll think of him, and me, and everyone else who may have enjoyed its comfort. What a beautiful gift he has given our family.

Have a blessed day!