Encouragement
Hi Members:
I’m trying something new here in an attempt to shine some light into otherwise gloomy times. Back when when we were first thrown into the time warp that we’re living through right now, Toni Brodi sent out a beautiful email to all the people who attend Knotty Ladies. We generally have an email thread going between us in order to keep in touch. It read:
I’m sitting here tonight thinking about all the blessings we’ve had to be thankful for this week. Fran’s biopsy news, Pam’s safe trip home, Vivian’s grandson going home, Nancy’s return home from the hospital, our continuing good health, connections to each other via email, the church’s sensible decision to cancel all meetings, our sewing machines combined with our abilities to use them to help others, our families and our connections to each other just to name a few. This stay home, stay safe thing may be inconvenient, but it has made me slow down a bit and reflect on things that are important to me. That includes all of you. You make my life happy. Thanks for being in it.
Toni
I forwarded Toni’s email to Nan and asked her to write something encouraging for guild members in the April Newsletter Blog. If you missed it here it is again.
A Note From Nan
To all my quilting friends…
“How are you doing?” I hope that you have heard that question several times over the last couple of weeks as friends and family call to check in. If you haven’t – now you have heard it from me. I am heartened by the genuine caring of members of the guild. You are an amazing group of people!
This isolation is hard because we thrive on being together, but it is so important if we are to “flatten the curve” of this pandemic and potentially save thousands of lives conceivably even our own. I urge you to stay connected, make phone calls to check on your friends and encourage them. I was looking forward to a trip to Ashville, NC in late April where 10 friends of mine from college were going to gather in a huge rented house and cook and laugh and enjoy being together, but Covid-19 put an end to those plans. Undaunted, we found a way to connect all 10 of us from coast to coast with a 2-hour Zoom meeting from our computers. After we worked through some technical difficulties, we had a ton of fun laughing and sharing stories of how we were coping. Actually, working through the technical problems with ten 73-year-old women was hilarious.
I encourage you to send a short note to Melissa Hollenbeck to share the ways that you are surviving in these days. Perhaps they can be collected and posted in subsequent blogs. To get the ball rolling, I’ll share a few of the things that have helped keep my head above water:
- Make a point to call at least one friend every day – doesn’t have to be a long conversation – maybe it is just a “how are you doing”, but it is an important connection.
- Every morning focus on at least 3 things you are thankful for – write them on a sticky note and put them on your bathroom mirror. That way you will see them every time you wash your hands — and do that frequently too!
So our assignment this week is to focus on thankfulness. If you have something you feel especially thankful for please email or text it to me next week and I’ll post your thoughts on a blog post next weekend. You can make it simple like, “I’m thankful for my cat,” or you can write an entire paragraph like the one Toni wrote. There’s nothing like spending time with friends to get your mind off of your troubles or your aches and pains (which most of experience at least part of the time). If we can’t spend time together face to face, let’s spend time together here on the guild’s website. Sharing and laughing are what we’re missing most here lately. The main rules I’m going to set out are: please don’t write anything sad or gloomy. We see enough of that by pressing the buttons on that remote every day. The other thing is please leave religion out of the mix. We all have different opinions and views on this subject.
One more thing: If you take photos of what you’re working on please share them. Quilts in progress or completed will take the place of Show and Share. We’d love to see pics of your dogs and cats, nature photos, or any others that you’d show us if you could see us. I’ve got a treasure trove of photos but I’d rather have this be your platform, not mine.
I hope this can take off. It only will if you are willing to send me your thoughts in a short (or long) email. Let’s join hands virtually with love, humor and care.
Stay safe and strong and keep sewing!
Melissa – My email is melissa1hollenbeck@gmail.com – phone: (925) 963-7097