Weekend Assignment #40

Weekend Assignment #40: It's my daughter Athena's sixth birthday today. Celebrate by sharing a story from when you were six.

Extra Credit: No extra credit this week -- I figure most of you will be busy enough the next couple of days, right?

Hmmmm... I don't always participate in the 'weekend assignments' because often I can't think of anything to write <LOL>, but on occasion I hit one that I actually can become involved in.

So, without futher ado.... One of my memories of being 6!

Some of my earliest memories are of my mother sitting in her chair in the living room crocheting while we went about watching TV, or playing. I was always fascinated by the beautiful lace that she seemed to form right out of the air. Her creations could be lacy doilies, warm scarves, pieces of clothing or snuggly afghans.

One Christmas, when I was about 6, my mother was asked by my step-aunt if she could make her a 'doily' for her dining room table. My mother agreed to make the 'doily', and set about locating a pattern. Since my Aunt's dining room was a very formal one, my mother decided that she would do something a little fancier than her normal doily patterns. My mother took several patterns that she liked and she combined them and wrote up her very own pattern on a sheet of paper. She worked many, many nights. The little spools of thread, disappeared, and the tablecloth grew.

When she finished the tablecloth, it didn't look like the lovely lacy creations that I had seen her make before, in fact I thought it looked very clunky and ugly... How could my mother , who could create such beautiful things, have made THIS??

But, I was yet to see a Holiday miracle! My mother took a large piece of plywood, a little larger than the round table my Aunt used, and she placed this lump of thread on it. And, she started to wet it with starch... and stretch it here... and place a glass under there... and some crumpled up paper here... and more starch. and more stretching... and behold, as the 'lumps' were made to stand up and become ruffles and ridges and standing rows. The awful, ugly thing became beautiful and airy and lacy and all of the things I had come to expect from my mothers wonderful hands.

We transported this now wonderful creation to my Aunt's still on it's temporary board in the back of our family car... with my brother and I crouched beneath it <g>. Needless to say, my Aunt was immediately captivated by what appeared to be a creation of air and light. 

I haven't seen this Aunt in years as she was related to me by marriage, and after my mother's divorce I have rarely seen her. I asked my brother (who is her actual nephew) yesterday if he knew what had become of this tablecloth. He said that my Aunt still cherishes it and that her daughters often comment on which one of them should receive this beautiful heirloom. I was happy to hear that it was still being used and treasured.

graphics from Lacefairy.com