Open Thank You Note: Marie & the Sewing Lesson

Dear Marie,

It's been over a decade since you informed me that I needed to learn to sew, and I needed to start NOW and that you were going to show me how. I remember all those fun hours at your house when I would have otherwise been at home by myself feeling pregnant and needy. At the time, I didn't realize how many of your own projects and responsibilities you were putting aside to help me, and how much patience it must have taken. You did everything with so much humor and cheer, it masked the effort perfectly.

Now I know.

Thank you for showing me how to sew, and how to read a pattern, and how to knuckle down and get a project done. I took a semester of sewing in 8th grade, but it didn't stick (except the part where I sewed my finger).

The Marie lessons have definitely stuck.

And I think of you and your home and your children and your smile every time I supervise my girls making a doll pillow or sit down to "whip something together". Every Halloween costume and Easter dress and coordinating wedding vest that I have sewn over the last thirteen years stands as a monument to you and your talent and our friendship.

So you know, I am up to my eyeballs in coordinating wedding clothing right now, and coming up fast on the deadline. In my head, I am cracking jokes with you about all of it.

Thank you, Marie. Thank you for pushing me, for teaching me, and for laughing off all of my anxieties about failure and incompetence. Thank you for giving me confidence and friendship, and a skill I can give to my daughters and anyone else I can rook into it.

Love,
   Amber

Rainy Night

Last night was our first major storm of the season. It was a spectacular lightning show, crazy wind + pouring rain, and even some hail thrown in for good measure.

We drove home in it.

I really love stormy weather. It's so wild and raw and beautiful. Funny, I didn't once feel unsafe during the hour-and-a-half it took us to get home. I enjoyed the show, to be sure. We had to slow down a few times because the wipers couldn't keep up with the rain. But my husband is a very competent driver. I felt very confident in his ability and in the protection of my Father in Heaven. So as my children snoozed (or read) in the back, I watched the display put on by Nature.

I am grateful for rainy nights. I am grateful for safety. I am grateful when it's not me driving, so I can look out the window at the world around me, and enjoy the view. And I was really grateful to get home and crawl in to bed. It had been a long (but wonderful!) weekend, and sleep and I were long overdue for a get-together.