Margaret had spent the winter warding off the cold by crocheting in her big, old easy chair, the one her husband had always used when he was alive. After his death in September, the mere glance at the empty chair was enough to take her to tears, but the thing was so big and heavy. She hated to ask anyone to come help her lug it out for a donation.
One day Margaret woke up with a sinus headache and she felt horrible. She couldn't get to the medicine shelf fast enough to find her pills but she knew it would be at least an hour before she'd get the relief she wanted so badly. She walked out into the living room and just sank into the soft cushions of the old chair and felt herself relax and breathe in the smell of her husband. She fell asleep and an hour later when she awoke feeling much better, there was no more thought of getting rid of the chair. She claimed it for herself and found it to be perfect for crocheting, including the pocket on the side where she could stash her yarn and crochet hook at bedtime.
Margaret was one of those people with a routine. Get up, make the bed, take a bath, get dressed, have some tea and toast, straighten the house, run the vacuum, dust, take care of the cat, and say a couple of prayers while she was doing so. Then she'd run errands into town if she needed to, stop at the grocery store, purchase cards or gifts for her family members, stop at the senior center to see some friends. Her unwritten rule was that crocheting was reserved for the long evenings while she either watched something on TV or listened to music. That way she had something to look forward to doing each evening, because it was during the evenings that she missed her husband the most. The crocheting filled in the longing she had to hear his voice.
That winter Margaret quit counting at 50 hats. Someone at church told her that the school kids could use some, so she took a bag over there. Apparently, the children weren't allowed to go out at recess without a coat and hat. Margaret remembered back 70 years to when she was a kid, and she recalled recess as being very important to her. She couldn't imagine some poor little child sitting in a classroom because he or she didn't have a hat. The school secretary thanked Margaret and said that the hats would go to good use.
There were red and blue hats, green and yellow, pink and white, orange and yellow, as well as solid colors of brown, white, and blue. The most striking of them were the orange and yellow ones. There were only three because the orange yarn came from a craft project she'd completed years before and once it was gone, it was gone. The orange was almost neon, a beacon of protection, a cry of, "Here I am."
A heartfelt thank-you note arrived at Margaret's house a week or so after the donation with signatures from many children, apparently some of those who had received a hat. It made Margaret feel useful, needed, and it spurred her onward.
The hat project continued and grew in the next couple of years and Margaret accepted gift cards for the craft shop and people also gave her cash sometimes, although at first she resisted. But, she reasoned, the added funds allowed her to purchase more yarn and make more hats. Then she added scarves so that the hats and scarves matched. She tried new patterns, new styles. She added pom-poms on the girls' hats. She made some larger and some smaller to accommodate more ages. She found more places who wanted the hats. The newspaper did an article on the hats and she got even more information on where they were needed. The hospital said they could use them for the cancer patients.
Margaret was proud that she could still drive and was active and alert. She was also very thankful to God for that.
Three winters after the craft project started, Margaret was driving to a doctor's appointment. It was a specialist she was seeing because she'd developed cataracts and he was going to do surgery for them. As she made her way down less traveled streets and into the more urban setting, she glanced over to the sidewalk and saw a woman pushing a cart. Her coat was worn and dull, her gait a little uneven, her cart full of cans. But it was none of those things that really got Margaret's attention. It was the hat -- neon orange and yellow. She'd recognize it anywhere.
And so it goes. The kindness goes on and on, just as God's love does.
Margaret just smiled. She needed to make another trip to the craft store.
Today's Lenten quote:
“Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring.” St. Catherine of Siena
(This quote is found on the beautiful mosaic fountain in the student center at The University of Akron, a gift from a sorority that had some money in its treasury when it disbanded.)
Scroll down to the very end of the posts, and there are two pictures of the fountain. I'm not going to try and remove one at this point!!
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