November 2, 2001
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Families are like quilts -- Lives pieced and stitched together . . .
A couple years ago my birthday present was a framed poem that begins with the above line. I was sitting in my favorite chair a few minutes ago looking at it, and reflecting on the similarity between a family and a quilt. Quilts come in all kind of patterns. Some are crazy quilts, and some are meticulously designed. Some are based on a traditional pattern, and some are contemporary kaleidescopes.
I've thought a lot about my own personality. My strengths and weaknesses. My quirks and my obssessions. I'm realizing that my family has a personality that makes it distinct from all other families. No other kids have the parents my kids have, and no other parents have my kids. No matter how much our lives might resemble our neighbors and friends, we are still our own little unit.
I like to call my introspective moments "navel-gazing". When I think introspectively about my family, I wonder where the locus of the wheel is located. Is it our home? Is it a particular member of the family? Is it in our laughter or tears? Maybe the navel of our family is the television. No matter how much I try to keep the tv covered, my kids keep exposing it to light.
So what's your family personality like? As I consider this question over the next few days, I'll enlarge on my quilted people theme.
Comments (10)
Interesting
My navel gazing just reveals lint. Is it okay of my quilt has lint?
My family=crazy quilt!
Actually, I can see some correlation between families and quilts...I've seen both come unraveled here and there, only to be repaired. I've seen a full piece fall off and never be replaced (death). I've seen so many lovely quilt squares with beautiful and personal "pictures" that remind me of different members of my family. Quilts are warm, cozy and familiar. And this morning, my son built a "fort" using a family quilt--so they offer protection from imaginary foes, as well.
Great blog!!
My grandmother used to say..."The whole world is like a quilt. Many different shapes, sizes, colors and fabrics. Alone we are just pieces of cloth...but together we make a quilt!" Great post!
Is that why you're the QuiltnMomi? Stitching the fabric of the family together to provide protective covering and shelter from the coldness in life?
Something to think about.
God Bless - Dale
Ah, but which of my families? My mother's family still gets together every year. The cousins of all degrees still come together to swap stories generations after the gatherings first began. My older children, the ones who are grown and gone, were taken to most of them. Their father's family is close knit too, keeping me and mine at family gatherings even now. My husband doesn't seem to have that sense of kin. His brothers live less than an hour away, his parents less than two - and we might see them 3-4 times a year. What a loss for my younger two!
Very Good Question ddl - that's one of the things I was thinking about yesterday afternoon. My cousins, siblings and I remain close even though we are in our 30's and literally all over the world from each other. My husband's family doesn't seem to have any great need to even speak to each other more than a couple times a year.
Wow, that could be our families, too. My side--so very close and loving. His side doesn't act like seeing each other is a big deal. Out of town grandkids came to visit my husband's mom--we live 3 minutes away--and she didn't even call to tell us so we could come by. I guess the family quilt is just more important to some families than others.
I don't like to engage in THAT kind of omphaloskepsis... My family hurts (and hurts my head).
My family is the kind to sweep things under the rug and let them fester.
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