A Pair of Very Loved Hands

I would recognize these hands anywhere and one day I will yearn to see them doing what they love to do. These are the hands of my 85 year old mother. On a recent visit to my home I had a project for her to work on to keep her hands and mind busy doing something that she loves and knows well. Together we created the patterns for different sizes of work aprons to fit my nine grandchildren. I cut them all out and she took the drivers seat at the sewing machine. A seat that she would not give up. She spent hours and days at the machine. It triggered many fond memories for her from her decades of sewing for her family.

One memory went back at least sixty years when she spoke of making/sewing my two older brothers button up shirts for school. She taught me a lesson that day of just how long kind words can be remembered. She spoke of being introduced to another mother. The other mother was trying to connect my mother to her children. When the other mother connected her to my brothers she said; "Oh, you are the mother that makes those really nice button up shirts for your boys." My mother beamed with pride as she remembered those words some sixty years later.

The nine aprons my mother completed while she was here do not showcase the perfected sewing skills that she once had but, they are a perfect example of one of the ways that she has demonstrated her love for her family throughout her life. I will love seeing my grandchildren in the aprons that a pair of very loved hands created. I will be sure to take this as an opportunity to remind my grandchildren just how much their great grandma loves them!