Warm Fuzzies

Well, I am certainly not going to win any awards for being a daily or consistent blogger. But I guess I am only driven to write when I fell I have something to share.... and I'm not sure that I could make my daily life either interesting or funny enough to share every day. When I do write it's because I have something I want to share.....

As I was teaching a class the other day I noticed the wonderful synergy that happens when quilters gather - well, not just quilters, but that happened to be the group I was with - the support that flows out of these gatherings is wonderful. Whether it is simply a safe haven for someone to just breathe and relax - or for a mother to rant about the antics of her child/children - especially to hear that she is not alone and they usually grow out of it - and if they don't, how to cope. Or for someone who is dealing with a life altering disease - how to cope or just to get a badly needed hug and shoulder to lean on for awhile.

Now before you think that we don't get anything done and just sit/stand around in big, huggy groups, we don't. All of this love and support is filtered in between cutting, sewing, pressing and ohhing and ahhing at whatever color choices our neighbour made..... These exchanges usually happen over a day, a succession of days or evenings, or even months and years of gathering in the same groups. In between the tears and sadness there are also stories of joy and happiness - celebrations of healing, graduations, anniversaries and births to balance out the sad events.

In our hurry up, cell phone, pager, beeper society we seem to have lost that human touch. These classes, groups, sessions - whatever form they may take - fill in the very real need we all have for a bit of human contact - a real person to talk to !! And if you are having a hard time believing this - just phone any large corporation that has automated answering systems and feel the relief that you get if you finally get to talk to someone at the end of the maze of options, numbers and beeps that you have gone through.....

The point of all of this ? Maybe our grandparents were smarter than us with quilting bees, community socials, barn raisings and the like - yes, they were purpose driven - but they also built a strength into their lives and their communities because they were connected and felt connected......no lone gunmen, so to speak......