Archive for the ‘think about it’ Category

Yesterday, I got a “Get out and Vote” email from a neighbor that simply astounded me.

The United States is 234 years old.

Women in the United States have had the right to vote for 90 of those years.

What!?  90 years!  That’s all?  How did I not know it’s only been 90 years?  The United States was in existence for 144 years before my grandmothers could vote?

So in honor of those who came before, I’m sending out a friendly reminder:  If you are an American, get out and vote today.

The more I sew…  the less I write.

And my sewing machine has been in a frenzy of activity lately.  Hopefully in a few days, I’ll have some photos to share.  But in the meantime, you’ll have to put up with the ramblings of my mind.

I have two quilts (and quilt patterns in the works) just back from the quilter today.  I’m going to be binding and binding.  I also finished my night owl bag last week… projects that are all Market bound.

I’ve been working on a Halloween wool wall hanging for above my fireplace.  And COSTUMES.   I am convinced that one of the reasons I make costumes each year is so that I can return working on cottons and wools with profound gratitude.  Silky polyester fabrics are naughty, I tell you.  They don’t obey.  They move, they slip, they do their own thing, even when I pin the daylights out of them.  Maybe it’s because I don’t work with them often enough, and I don’t know the tricks.  If you walk by my house and hear swearing through my open kitchen window, you’ll know why.

“ If you seek some special life outside of daily activities, that is like brushing aside waves to look for water.”

I love this quote.  I only wish I knew who said it.  I was talking to a friend yesterday, a friend who is struggling.  I’ve been thinking about our conversation… I know my friend is feeling alone… like most people’s lives, husbands, children are good… except hers.

My friend Amy Smart from Diary of Quilter wrote last week, “The troubling thing about blogging and blog-surfing is the whole comparison aspect that women struggle with in life in general.  Seeing someone’s best, perfect side, knowing your own worst, imperfect side, yadda, yadda. I know I fall into that trap from time to time -recently, in fact – and it’s easy to get discouraged.”

The idea that came to me after our conversation yesterday is that some of the trouble and frustration my friend is feeling is from comparing herself to other people… people whose lives appear to be more perfect.  That’s what we show each other after all… our best selves.  We save our struggles for ourselves or those closest to us.

What I should have told my friend yesterday is this…  There isn’t some special, perfect life out there.  There is just the life we have.  And everyone, even those whose lives look so good, have their own private pain.  Even when our lives are in crisis, even when things seem depressing or dark, it can make a difference to focus on all the little things that are good.  The distance between sadness and happiness is sometimes no greater than what we choose to see.