Quilting

Full disclosure: I fell behind on writing this piece and had decided that I wasn’t going to post it at all last night. Coincidentally, I had gotten under a blanket, because I was cold and when I get cold, I get sleepy. When I woke up this morning, I was still cold, and my thoughts turned back to quilts and this piece. So, here we are…

Lately, I’ve been having visions of quilts. I have always wanted to learn how to make one, and I have lots of material for one. I like donating clothes, but some of the clothes that the girls have outgrown, I still have an attachment to them. So, I have started cutting out squares so that I can one day make a quilt. I didn’t grow up quilting, I grew up crocheting.

Many cultures have ways of passing down memories. Quilting is memory. That is pieces of fabrics that belonged to different people within the same family, all threaded together with stories of those people. It’s a wonderful, tangible thing! Being a foodie, my memories are tied to recipes, but I also have crocheting. My great aunt first taught me when I was in elementary school. I remember watching her and my grandmother crocheting together. Later on, I forgot how to do it and one of my aunts retaught me. Coming from a family that values education, relearning is never frowned upon. Besides, you wind up learning new patterns that are added to your crocheting knowledge.

One of my most cherished memories is waking up and going into the living room to find my grandmother, aunts and cousins sitting around crocheting and drinking coffee. We had gathered for the funeral of this same great aunt, and I believe in my whole being that she was so happy seeing us altogether crocheting and talking about what she meant to us. Best believe, I sat myself right down with them and joined in on the needlework, coffee, and stories!

My Great Aunt Helen and her sister, my Gram, Rosalie - co founder of the Original Gullah Festival! I love these two peas in a pod.

The cold I felt this morning has reminded me of the importance of memory. How it needs to be cherished, honored, respected, and how more than ever, it needs to be protected. The truth is a hard thing that many have tried to erase or hide for nefarious reasons. Instead of understanding that truth exists and letting it be, there are whole people and governments intent on discoloring it, dismantling it, or dismembering it to fit their own narratives. I have read in books and have heard stories about how some cultures’ histories have been stolen or hidden, but to see in real time the fervor, speed, and intensity with which mechanisms are out here removing actual events and people from US history is something to behold. It is heartbreaking and breathtaking! While I feel this betrayal in my soul, to combat it, I have chosen to hold up the light on truth and to amplify joy, peace, love and happiness (thank you, Al Green)! May you stay safe and warm under your quilt of memories, while you grow in truth and wisdom. Remember or learn Proverbs 4:7.

This piece first appeared in Substack - Say, Say, Say...