Being Crafty . . .

May 27, 2009

Posted by: SuperJenn

Bloggers - tlccraftywitches

size=”3″ face=”Times New Roman”>Being crafty is sometimes born
of inspiration¦and sometimes born within ourselves from something
we don’t even understand.

size=”3″ face=”Times New Roman”>And sometimes, it’s just
in our blood.

size=”3″ face=”Times New Roman”>Lemme share something really
personal with y’all, okay¦

size=”3″ face=”Times New Roman”>Maybe it’s the fact that
in the US, we just celebrated Memorial Day weekend¦but for me, it’s
the same every year. I don’t generally gather with people and
do the whole barbeque thing¦ I mean, sometimes my mum and I
will cook out on the grill that weekend, but you know, we do that on
a lot of weekends once the weather starts playing nice. But I
digress¦back to my original point.

size=”3″ face=”Times New Roman”>Every year over the Memorial
Day weekend, Mum and I¦and sometimes one of her sisters and maybe
my cousins, pick out an inexpensive selection of fake flowers from a
craft store, pretty them up with a bit of ribbon, and head off to the
cemetery to leave them at the headstones of my mum’s parents.
It may sound a bit uncaring or crass in our method, but the cemetery
where they are buried doesn’t allow live plants, and the groundskeepers
(and occasionally local kids) just toss out whatever trinkets you leave
within a week or so anyway. My grandma knew this, and to be honest,
were she alive, she’d be cool with our method¦no point spending
superbucks, right?

size=”3″ face=”Times New Roman”>And I’ll tell you what, every
year the same thing happens¦.a day or two later, I realize in the
25 years that my dad’s mum has been gone, I’ve only once been to
her gravesite, and that was for a class project where I happened to
be at the cemetery anyway.

size=”3″ face=”Times New Roman”>In the 10 years that I’ve
been accompanying my mum to leave a small token on my maternal grandparents’
final resting place, I’ve never said, “Hey, you know, we should
head to the other cemetery and leave something for Grandma L¦”

size=”3″ face=”Times New Roman”>Invariably, I’ll feel bad
for a day or two¦then a sort of peace sweeps over me, and I remember
that in some ways, I honor HER more than I do my other deceased grandparents.

size=”3″ face=”Times New Roman”>You see, my Grandma L was a
crafty woman. A very gifted crafty woman. She could sew,
she crocheted, she did beadwork¦and oh man, could she cook.
She was incredibly witty and raucous and she loved to read. She
would have LOVED the Harry Potter series. And the costumes she
would have created¦just WOW. I’m telling you, she would have
taken to HP like a hook to yarn. I would even bet she would have
attended a con or two just because she would have had so much fun.

size=”3″ face=”Times New Roman”>Times like this bring a tear
and a smile to my face, because I think of what she would have crafted¦.what
we would have crafted together. She remains one of my strongest
inspirations when it comes to crafting for me. She is the reason
that crafting is so strong in my blood. She gave me the desire
to create. So, when I sit here just after Memorial Day weekend¦and
once again realize I have left no token of honor upon her headstone,
I recognize that within each craft I make, I remember and express the
love of crafting she passed on. And with a tear and a smile, I
pay tribute to her memory all the same¦.

Crafty Witch Amber





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