Quilted Memories

Retailers put a price on clothes. A pair of slacks for $60. A pair of jeans $50. A T-shirt $15. The funny thing is, despite the price tag, the item of clothing is priceless. It has a perceived value as far as dollars go to the store selling it, but once you get it home and wear it, it has value far beyond the bar code.

*Life, love, and laughter - what priceless gifts to give our children*

When the tag is cut off, the shopping bags are thrown away. The real value sets in. A shirt worn on a family vacation, a pair of jeans worn on the tractor, A shirt worn on the last Christmas together, a sport coat worn on the last living weekend, a shirt that was worn on the last night on this earth. All of these items are items I remember my Daddy wearing. All the items have sentimental value beyond any price tag in the world.

*Our clothes are too much a part of us for most of us ever to be entirely indifferent to their condition: it is as though the fabric were indeed a natural extension of the body, or even of the soul. ~Quentin Bell*

They say you don't need alot of stuff, it's not like you can take it with you when you die. When someone dies, they don't need the things they've acquired over the years, but the people left behind do. Memories are what keep someone with you, memories keep you sane, memories are what remind you of what you had. Memories come in all sorts of packages, memories cling to all sorts of things.

*Memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.*

After my dad died, I couldn't for see getting rid of his clothes. I just wanted to grab all the hangers off the rack and hug them all closely. I know there are needy people out there and that we should donate them, but in my mind, no one is worthy of wearing his clothes. My sister and I decided to pull all the pieces that had meaning to us and that memories were attached to. They are being made into a quilt. A quilt that I can look at and remember when he wore that shirt, jacket, or jeans. A quilt that will be a walk down memory lane. A quilt that brings my past to my future, to my future children so they can have a piece of their grandfather they won't get to know, but would have spoiled them rotten and adored them if he were alive.

*Blankets wrap you in warmth, Quilts wrap you in love*

Quilts are meant to bring warmth, but this quilt will not only bring warmth, it will bring comfort on the sad days, it will bring security on the hard days, and it will bring love to my soul every single day. On the days I miss my Daddy the most I can wrap it around me and feel his hug.

Shit....I have a headache now from all the crying....