As mothers, as mommies, we spend a lot of time wrapping our arms around our little ones, holding them tight, and whispering, “It’s okay, darling, it’s okay.” When the baby cries. When the toddler falls. When the preschooler has had just a little too much day and not enough nap. When bigger kids have bigger needs. We wrap our arms around them and murmur, “It’s okay, darling, it’s okay.”
And somehow it makes it all better.
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I have days myself when I could use a little of that. Not my mommy, exactly, but some bit of that kind of love wrapped around me telling me, “it’s okay, darling, it’s okay.”
And the other day, a bit of that arrived in the mail.
Kelly, a friend I know only through this site, her blog, and comments, is a quilter. She wanted to send me something to help me through this time. She didn’t listen to my protests here and went to my friend Canape instead, asking where to mail this token of love. But wait, there’s more. Since she lives in Australia, she talked to some friends in America with the Heartstrings Project and arranged for them to send me a quilt. They did. It is absolutely beautiful, and I am overwhelmed. They sent me this gorgeous quilt, and I have been wrapping myself in it on the couch this cycle. It’s really helping me feel less alone.
Then another package arrived, this one from Girl. Another woman I know only through this blog and hers. She went to the trouble of making me something herself, something that she thought would remind me of my superpowers triumphing over cancer. That’s right. She made me a cape. A cape with a great big WM on it, superman-style, in bright bold pink and white. It makes me feel like I have superpowers, and when I wrap it around me (or my toddler races around the room in it), it makes me feel powerful.
And then NYfriend added to my bounty with a neck wrap/bed buddy scented with chamomile and other herbs and flowers. She and her friend who makes Simple Slings, a fantastic carrier for infants, researched the ingredients, mixed the herbs (the kids helped!), and sewed them all up in a long narrow pouch (with gorgeous removable cover) for me. I put it around my shoulders or alongside me when I lie down, and its sweet scent and comforting weight comfort me when I feel grouchy and I hurt. It even goes in the microwave for soothing warmth for my shoulder. It helps relieve the pain and makes me feel relaxed.
My mother, my wonderful mother, knitted me a prayer shawl last year when I was down on bed rest for the pregnancy for so long. She learned to knit just for this, I think, and she did such an amazing job. The blue/green shawl, and a peachy orange one that a family friend knitted for me last month, are wonderful knits to wrap around me or dust over my legs when I feel chilly. And yes, I do feel chilly these hot August days, as my thermostat and hormones are all messed up and I begin to enter what they call chemopause. When I toss them over my legs or wrap them around me, I feel loved.
And when I log on to the computer, made of bits and bytes and plastic and metal, the most unlikeliest of places, I find your comforting words and comments and posts, and I have found that they are often as soft and reassuring as baby-fine yarn and a chocolate brownie. When I read your words of comfort, I feel surrounded by friends.
And that, friends, is priceless. I can hear you, each of you, telling me what you would tell your children, and I hear you saying, “It’s okay, darling, it’s okay.”
Thank you. I needed to hear that today.
Categories:
