Thursday, February 15

The Sum of "You".

This is a pic of a quilt I made for my daughter, J. She is very fond of orange, & loved the border on the quilt- well, she loves the whole quilt. I used some blocks using patterns from books, but I made some of them myself. I drew the animals, & the fish, & the scarecrow blocks. This quilt is a larger one I made for my Granddaughter. She loves purple, so that featured in it quite a lot. I made it using a pattern from Patchwork Pumpkin.
I am still resting on my laurels a bit here, as I have not proceeded with much further sewing over the last few days. We have had other things to occupy our time, & it seems quite nice today- not too hot, so I might get some sewing done.
It is something to ponder, the thought that we are all of the people we have ever been, and all of the ages we have ever been. And we carry all of those people inside us forever.
And 'they' make us the person we are today.
And 'they' must surface every now & then, I suppose.
I can still vividly remember being 3 years old, & terrified when my finger got shut in a car door, & the tip of it was almost severed. I relived that feeling & horror when my son got his finger shut in the front door & the tip was only hanging by a thread of skin. And I looked at it, & wished I hadnt. I could see the bone. I just panicked, & stood in the doorway screaming, clutching my son's hand.
I suppose, inside, I was a terrified 3 year old again, with no control. I saw the neighbour at her kitchen window, but she never came to help. I found out later, she had seen the blood, & went to hide under a bed! That was her terrified reaction.
Luckily another neighbour heard my screams, & she came to the rescue, said her daughter had done exactly the same thing, & she calmly got a towel, & just wrapped the whole hand & arm up. Then got her husband to take us to the Hospital. Where GOM came & took over. They had told us it would have to be amputated. I went home to get his things, a favourite toy. When I returned a wonderful Doctor had saved it, & sewn it all back on.
Usually I seem to be good in a crisis, & just go all calm, & deal with things. It is later that I fall apart, & have my cry. After the crisis is all over.
When that same son came off his bike, & badly broke his arm, front teeth, & nearly lost an eye, I coped until the crisis was 'over.' I rode in the ambulance with him, & spoke calmly to him, to try to keep him calm. Later, at home, I fell apart totally.
There were childhood accidents for my daughter also, & I always managed to keep calm. But there are still moments in my life when I seem to be a worried little girl again. Moments when I feel I would like a hand to hold, & a 'Mummy' to guide me along. And moments of teenage pain, relived.
Of course all the good times, when happiness dominated, are part of my being too. And helpless, enraged parts, & helpless giggling parts, or roaring with laughter. My daughter made me laugh in a shopping mall, & I laughed so hard, I couldnt stop. I was doubled up laughing, but now, I cant even remember what it was about. But I still remember the laughter! And people staring, then grinning at my helpless laughter.
And times in school, when a group of us would get the 'giggle bug', & we would be unable to stop. It would seem contagious, & sweep the class. I can still remember a singing teacher we had, who demanded to know what was so funny. None of us could tell her, which made it somehow seem funnier.
(As some comic relief- I read a post on Breed em & Weep yesterday, that reduced me to helpless tears of laughter. I couldnt read for the tears. It is a post called "Return of The Squalor, Redux". Dont read it, if you have an aversion to doggy doo!)
But back to the totalling of me. haha. What I want to know now, is, if all the people I was, are still there, where did the 'shell' go? I looked at my wrist & it seems to have become my Grandmothers. It has had a perpetual bruise on it for about 4 weeks, & just when it appears to be gone, I rebruise it, somehow, & there it is again- grandmother's skin!
I can still feel a little girl, ....but I can never appear a little girl. Or even a young woman. Age sneaks up on you, while you are imagining you are still only 'so&so'.
I dont feel my age, but parts of my body feel plus! Very much plus!
The offending wrist, this morning.
I think it looks worse than it really is. I am left handed, so I guess it gets more use.
It really does feel like a nice day, so I will be off to enjoy it, one way or another.


14 comments:

Faith said...

just what happened there? when ever i bruise myself and trust me I am always bumping into things even at 36 I have a large bottle of witch hazel which helps to take the bruising out. providing the injury is not cut I just lap it on of course with a big bundle of tissue of cotton wool, i find this is also great for burns.
I do love looking at the pictures of the quilts which you have done there the colours are fab

nutbudx

keryn said...

Try Tiger Balm for the bruise, wonderful stuff.

Meredith and I have always been prone to fits of laughing, where we would end up paralytic and everyone around us would be laughing at how silly we were being. And it's never anything very funny that sets us off, just something mildly ludicrous.

Once when I was quilting a quilt to a deadline I was sewing madly away, stressed beyond belief. My DD came into the sewing room after school and remarked 'Did you hear about the art teacher who suffocated?' I stopped quilting and stared; 'What happened?'

'He couldn't draw breath' she replied. I laid my head on the table and laughed for at least 5 minutes. Every time I looked at her I started laughing again. It was a great stress reliever, thanks darling.

molly said...

hey meggie you write so much i can't keep up! miss a few days and you're a goner.... I still have days when I wouldn't mind at all crawling up into some great maternal lap, and burying my face in some great maternal bosom, and not have to deal with the "slings nd arrows...."for a while. lovely quilts, as usual!

Quilting Kim said...

Hi Meggie. I wish you could send some of your warm weather and I would gladly swap some of our cold weather to equalize things a bit. They are lovely quilts that you made for your daughter and granddaughter.

I also have a problem with bruising because I don't eat red meat -- gotta try to get more iron in your diet.

meggie said...

Hi All, I used to use Witch Hazel all the time for my kids bruises, & still swear by it. But these marks are more broken capillaries, just under the skin, than actual bruising I think. I dont eat red meat either, Kim, just cant stand it. I do try to eat more fish, & I love my greens. My Grandmother, & mother, ate red meat but they had the same problems. Think it must be genetic.
I havent tried the Tiger balm for bruises, but i do have some in the bathroom cupboard!

I love getting all your comments, & am always interested in what everyone has to say! Thanks for calling & commenting.

Mrs. Goodneedle said...

Euceta is good for bruising, too. I love the concept, and will think of it today, of how we are all the ages we've ever been. Indeed it's true, I just hadn't thought about it quite that way. And we're also all the experiences we've ever had. I can relate to the calamities with an accident-prone son. I have the gray hairs and worry-lines as proof.

My float said...

I remember laughing like that! Seeing the whole class erupt into laughter over nothing at all must have been so intimidating to our teachers!

You are incredibly brave. When my son injures himself, I'm usually okay too if someone else is there and falling to pieces! But when he injured himself badly, I was just screaming and swearing down the phoe to the poor woman on 000.

Stomper Girl said...

I had my whole upper arm pinched in a door. Talk about a magnificent rainbow bruise. To this day I panic if my kids get fingers or anything slammed in the door. I can't even work out how to open the door to release them.

So I know how you feel.

Joyce said...

I so remember having girlfriends over and giggling all night about nothing. It used to annoy my mother who,strangely, wanted to sleep. Those were the days. Now I am the one who gets annoyed when my GD's giggle all night. It's funny that boys don't seem to do that as much as girls.

Cynthia said...

the two quilts you made for your daughter and grand daughter are lovely.

smilnsigh said...

I must apologize for not finding your comment in my blog, sooner. :-((( You commented in one of my entries, with old photos. Yes, it is lovely to see old photos, isn't it? And I'm always so glad that someone has kept them.

Although those of me, are in sad shape. :-)

I'll be visiting here again soon.

'MN'

Lois R. said...

Another great post by Meggie!

I often feel like I am the sum of several people I have been in the past. (and I don't mean past lives) Who I am now is very different than even when I married my husband 14 years ago. And even more different than when I was 20, or 12. But I am still the same in many ways.

Age does sneak up on you, doesn't it? I look in the mirror and wonder why my mother is looking back at me.

The quilts are beautiful! I love the... well, there is so much I like about them!

Pear tree cottage! said...

Meggie, I hope so much that your wrist is much better now, it is such a nasty looking bump I do hope it is ok.

Your work is stunning and the family must be thrilled you are a quilter because they know forever nd ever these beautiful quits of yours will be past down in the family forever. There is nothing more special then that.

well done.
Lee-ann

Marlublu said...

Came across your blog by accident and I really enjoyed reading it. I just love the quilts you made for your daughter and grand daughter. You should be very proud. I shall visit again.