Sewing Sunsets

When my youngest daughter was in her senior year of high school, I began to view that time in my life as ”endings and new beginnings”.  Everything we did that year was a “last”–the last PTA meeting, or her last voice lesson before leaving for college—there were lots of “lasts” that year.   My daughter’s graduation from high school meant the end of life as I had known it–with children in the house and school bells, PTA meetings, and all the things that make life go round when you are raising a family.  However, this ending of life as I had known it also signaled a time of new beginnings, both for myself and for my daughter. My daughter was embarking on her college career and entering a new phase of her life.  She would be entering adulthood and exploring her dreams and goals in life, and I would also be entering a new phase in my own life.

For myself, I knew that not being tied down by school schedules and PTA meetings meant that I would have the freedom to redefine myself and start to realize my own hopes and dreams.  It was a bittersweet time in my life because all of the “lasts” were poignant moments, but if I concentrated on the new beginnings to come, the “lasts” weren’t quite so hard.

Sewing also has endings and new beginnings. (Of course, I had to find some way to relate this topic to sewing! )  Sewing enthusiasts take a flat piece of fabric and by cutting it into pieces or shapes, turn that flat piece of fabric into a beautiful garment or quilt.  The fabric has ended its “life” (does fabric have a life? )as a flat piece, and has a new beginning as a garment, toy, bag, or quilt.  Even these new creations may have a new beginning of sorts.  If they’re given away to friends or relatives, the quilt or garment will begin a new journey with someone who appreciates its value.  If these items are given away to a charity that helps the less fortunate, perhaps that one small item–a quilt or a new dress–just might give someone a new beginning in life, or at least the glimmer of hope that new beginnings and better times lie ahead.

  That glimmer of hope that someone might have when given something as simple as a new dress or quilt could be the difference between whether or not they will turn to drugs or alcohol and become addicted, or whether they will one day become President of the United States, or find a cure for cancer or Alzheimer’s.  Sometimes just a simple gesture of kindness might make a huge difference in someone’s life.   It just might mean the ending of a really hard time in life, and the new beginning of a life filled with possibilities and the ability to realize dreams.  And if we’re lucky, really lucky, everyone who receives even the smallest gift or glimmer of hope, will pass it along to someone else.  Perhaps, just perhaps, by each one of us doing one small thing to help the less fortunate, we might play a small part in endings and new beginnings–the ending of poverty and the new beginning of a much better life.