A Shortage
In this day and age it is evident that there is a shortage of moms and grandmas for the younger generation. What is more evident is that the younger generation took no interest in what they had been exposed to at the elbow of these women.
With pride I know that daughter Carrie did pay attention and she could sew herself out of a maze in a heartbeat.
What is ready for tomorrow’s UPS depot is a package to my nephew Larry. Larry’s mother-in-law, Rita, had a passion for all things threads and fuzz. She was so good it rubbed off on Larry’s mom, my sister Elvera. Elvera learned the fine art of piecing quilts and an even finer art . . . pressing seams. When I last visited Rita to deliver a quilt she had started, Rita was quite ill. I can still chuckle over a comment when reminiscing quilting with Elvera. “She spent more time ripping out seams than not and then finally she would just let the mistake slide.”
So, getting on to my point. Many younger women do not sew. They passed on the opportunity to acquire their mom’s sewing machine after they had passed. When want comes and they can’t do any more than purchase fabric and pass it along with a “please,” the realization sets in that there is a shortage of those that can and those that do.
I willingly took on the “please” of making three Christmas socks for Larry’s wife, Rita’s daughter. Family is family. Admittedly, I could have easily used a working left hand and arm. My mother-in-law, Esther, repeated often, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” When I sewed on the hanger for the three stockings, I did feel stronger. The three stockings were for the fact that Larry’s family has grown since Rita made stockings for everyone.
The remaining fabric that Jennifer had purchased will remain in my studio on the event that the family again has a growth spirt. The gamble in that is that I may be the one to guide someone in making more stockings and my role will be strictly supervisor. Time will tell.
Now on to the question I will have of my children . . . “Do you need Christmas stockings.” I am game.