Mother’s Day, yes it is real!

Jeff's Memories

My mom always says Mother’s Day is a silly holiday, made up for the card industry.   As a child I felt a sigh of relief, I never knew what to get mom, I never had money to get anything, so I believed all that she said -  it’s a holiday for the card industry. Fast forward quite a few years to my own motherhood.   I cherished the small handmade gifts from my children: handprints, paper flowers and the ubiquitous macaroni necklace.   I wore them, posted them and saved them.    As my children got older I said the same to mine, it’s a made up holiday so that I would save them the anguish and the difficulty in buying mom ‘something’.  Now that my children have grown, what I would give for another macaroni necklace.

So when this gentleman called us at Over the Top Quilting Studio, saying that he wanted to make a special Mother’s Day gift for his wife to mark the upcoming holiday, I had visions of those lovely thoughtful gifts of past.  Susan and I met with Don to talk about this special quilt for his wife, Jajuan.   This was going to be a quilt made up of her son’s memorabilia and clothing.   This was going to be a Mother’s Day present to further preserve the memory of her late son Jeff.

This quilt was to be composed of so many personal milestones of Jeff’s life. The Mickey Mouse t-shirt that proclaimed its resolution to “make it”, which he did as a young successful lawyer.   The winter vacations that the family spent in Grand Cayman. The Scrabble tiles that proved a bet that TUNIS was a real and playable word!  We were privileged to take his small Cub Scout uniform and transform it to a quilt block that preserved the shirt and allowed his mom to see him as the little scout that he once was.

Scrabble

We fingered the tiny blanket and baby pillow that was once so precious to both Mother and Son.  The Mother’s Day before Jeff’s tragic death, he wrote a message to his mom, which we embroidered into the quilt.

So many memories were shared over the many weeks Susan and I worked with Jeff’s Dad Don that we came to know Jeff, and see the journey of his life. Sewing this quilt was heartbreaking,  joyful,  prayerful and peaceful. We were filled with so many levels of emotion as we handled each piece of fabric with respect and reverence.

Saved baby blanket

This Mother’s Day is more than a manufactured holiday.  It is a day to connect with mother and child, cherishing the moments and memories that are intertwined making the bond that can never be severed.

If you have the blessing of being able to share Mother’s Day with your Mom, do so, because you never know when for you it will no longer be a mindless, contrived holiday.   It is a day to proclaim your love and respect of the woman who bore you.

Chris