When I was a little girl (I think around seven or eight), my mom, who was not known to be too crafty, knit a sweater for me. I loved it. It was red, and the buttons were white and heart-shaped. I wore it all the time. I wore it on school picture day and to my spring concert. I guess I pretty much wore it any chance that I got. I told my teacher and my classmates that my mom had made this sweater. I was so proud that my mom had worked hard night after night to make something so special just for me.
Then, without warning, one day I looked down and noticed that my sweater was coming apart and unraveling near one of the button-holes. I was so upset. I questioned, “Had I done this to my beautiful sweater?” I thought how hurt my mom would be if she knew that the sweater she had worked so hard on was not perfect as it once was. So, to save the hurt I thought she would feel, I threw my red, with-a-hole sweater away. It was a very sad day, but I thought, “What good is a sweater with a hole in it?”
Later on that day, my mom came in my bedroom. She had my red sweater in her hands, and the look on her face was one of sadness and puzzlement. “Susie, why did you throw your sweater away? I thought you loved it.” I did love it – more than anything in the world – but it is broke, it has a hole in it, it’s not perfect anymore.
My mom sat down next to me and unfolded the red sweater, showing the hole next to the white heart-shaped button. She explained that it could be fixed, it could be mended. She said she could make it almost like new again. It just needed some attention and some reinforcement. I was thrilled, and after a few days I was once again wearing my beautiful red sweater with the heart-shaped buttons.
Not that day, but years later, this happy memory often comes back to me. I no longer have my sweater because while nothing lasts forever, I did learn something very important that day from my mom. While bad things can happen to things we love, we can spend extra time to mend them and care for them, and give them a chance to be as they once were, even if it’s not forever. I call that love.
–Sue
Second Annual Purses for a Purse
January 18, 2023