A Small Piece Of Metal

At first glance you see a small piece of metal shaped into a cup. To most eyes it doesn’t represent anything of importance. Not an expensive item. Not a worldly good to be traded at a market. But to me it was priceless.

I have always said that making memories is the best thing that you can do with anyone you love. I try to make sure that those I love know it and have memories to show them they are loved.

Today is a sad day in my life as I carefully wash my grandmother’s face and fluff her beautiful white hair. A quilt covers her that my mother and I made and gave to her just this past Christmas. Mom and I had a great time picking out the fabrics from my stash, cutting and sewing the quilt. I quilted the quilt while mom and I talked and pressed fabric for another project. Today it caresses my grandmother, Rosa Lee Godfrey Donaldson, as children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren come to say goodbye. Today she went to be with the Lord and is seeing loved ones again who have been gone for a long time. We were blessed to have her for 88 years.

As my mother and her sister were getting things together and looking for the earrings and necklace my grandmother wanted to wear for the service on Sunday they came across a small zippered bag. Inside was some floss, scissors, needles and a thimble. It was my grandmother’s sewing kit. Nothing fancy but well used. As a child I can remember watching my grandmother as she mended shirts and pants. Some needed a patch sewn over a torn area and some had lost buttons. She carefully mended each one as she watched over grandchildren playing in the yard. As a young child I spent many days with my grandmother along with other cousins we played on the swing set in the back yard. We watched as trains passed on the tracks behind the house. We ran and played hard all day.

As my mom and aunt Sylvia looked at the bag they removed this small piece of metal and turned to me. They smiled as they handed the item to me as they knew this small piece of metal represented a piece of me.
It was my grandmother’s thimble and it is priceless to me. Isn’t it amazing how something with no worldly value can envoke a feeling of immense wealth to the recipient. My grandmother will always live in my heart and now she is always with me each time I place a stitch in a piece of fabric, she will be there guilding my finger as her thimble sits snuggly in place.

Shelia
July 11, 2008