gift
ɡift/
noun
verb
- 1.give (something) as a gift, especially formally or as a donation or bequest."the company gifted 2,999 shares to a charity"________________________________________________________________________
After my Granny passed, those in her house were hesitant to open cabinets, look through photo albums and look in her storage in the basement and all the bedrooms. My Granny did not like you to touch her 'stuff'. She was so important to all of the family that gathered that we didn't want to ruffle her feathers even if she had passed earlier in the week, even if it had been months since she was in her house, we wanted to respect this respectable matriarch.
But we did open those cabinets, as most of us were from out of state. Not much was taken though. Mainly pictures, and lots of memories. Granny had a knack, or gift some would argue, of saving and upcycling. She was a child of the Great Depression after all. Some may also argue whether this gift was passed on to her descendants. But I don't want to make her out to be a grumpy hoarder because that she was not. Granny was a pistol but in a loving way. One of her ways she showed love was through her gift of cooking, another was her gift of sewing. I remember receiving the gift of a handmade clown doll and knowing even as a child they were special and made with love. Granny's gift of sewing was passed down to her youngest daughter, who in turn passed it down to her youngest daughter, me.
Therefore, Granny's greatest gift she ever gave me was her passing down the gift of sewing.
So in that basement closet, there were wooden spools of threads gone brittle, computer paper boxes full of lace, shoeboxes full of zippers new and old, suitcases full of naked Barbies waiting to have a outfit made for them, a cardboard box full of felt of all colors, etc. I said to my mom and Uncle John, "I need to buy felt to make a banner for my Girl Scout Troop, do you mind if I take this box instead?" Of course they agreed, and then my Uncle piled in some other sewing supplies. So therefore Granny gifted me with a box of felt. We know that Granny doesn't like us to go through her stuff, so this gift of felt is being used in a way Granny would see fit. I will honor my Granny the best way I know how.
My Girl Scout Troop marching in our local Veteran's Day parade with that banner made from Granny's felt. The girls carried that banner proud, as for they traced and cut out the flowers themselves from Granny's felt.
But this banner didn't use up that box of felt, so when a previous neighbor wanted ornaments for an angel tree for her son that passed earlier this year, I dug out some felt. The ornament was to represent my greatest memory of her son. I choose to represent his smile. It felt poignant to use felt from my Granny that passed at 96 this year to represent a little boy who passed at 8 this year as well. Both deaths were hard to swallow and both lives (and deaths) impacted me deeply. I made his mom a smiley face ornament for her white angel tree.
But of course my box of felt is still quite full.
One of my closest friends son is turning two. This friend of mine loves to reuse and not waste, it is one of her gifts much like my Granny. She doesn't want her son gifted with noisy electronic toys that flash and beep. Usually her kids' gifts are for charities not their family. But this family is super special and I want to show this to them with a meaningful gift. This family loves to travel, as they are about to spend a month in Germany and then shortly after move to Japan. So I thought this newly two year old should be gifted with a toy for all those airplanes rides. I can then see my friend gifting this toy to a child in Ethiopia. I used Granny's gift of felt and Granny's gift of sewing to create this gift.
Can't wait to see what else that box of felt has to offer. Thanks Granny, I hope I am doing right by you and making you proud.
