I just finish the most unique project. One of my loyal customers lost her Mother earlier this year. My customer contacted me and asked if I could make a new sweater from her Mother's sweaters. Well, we ended up making three sweaters and several scarves - for her, her sister and her daughter. It was the most wonderful experience and appreciated tribute. I was so happy to be a part of it.
The project started me thinking. As many of you know, I lost both my mother and my mother-in-law this past year. My good friend also lost her mother. My sister lost her elderly woman friend. I guess we are at that age that we must pick up the mantle of the "elder stateswomen" of the world and continue the work they all began. I am comfortable with that. I look at the women "of a certain age" that I know well; that I meet through Etsy; my customers; and just through daily life. We are a good lot. We have grown from the good-girls of the 50s and early 60s through the hippie/rebel free-thinkers of the late sixties, many of us have made it through childrearing and one or more husbands. Some of us did it on our own. We have kicked ass in the work place and in sports. We have been open to change and technology. We have bridged our mothers and our daughters. We have tried a lot, saved some, discarded much and lived to see another day. It feels good to be here now. We earned it. We have grabbed human-ness, but we have not let go of our core female-ness - what ever form that may take for each of us.
So to all of you women out there; young, old, mothers, daughters, lovers, wives, executives, crafters, we have a lineage, we have a heritage, and sooner or later, each of us becomes the lineage and the heritage. Cherish the journey, remember the pathmakers.
1 comment:
What a lovely post- I also lost my mother in 2009. She was 83. And we also lost many good friends and the parents of many of ours went beyond too. Strange year actually. Here's to a happier year this time round. Cheers!
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