Playing Catch-up

I like to think my life is spent going from one stage of life and living to another. My lessons come easier now that I am older, or maybe they repeated enough times for me to finally get what I was here to learn. There is nothing guaranteed about having a springtime of spirit. I think we have to chose it for ourselves. And it IS Spring here in the northern hemi.

At the beginning of the year, I made a personal commitment to dedicate a couple of days each month to do first; paper-work projects of any nature, and secondly; to work on Winter Solstice gifts. However, my trip was going to make that hard because it was smack dab on those dates. It would have been easy to just skip it all and go to next month.

However, buying all those postcards at Yosemite gave me a perfect opportunity to connect with the elders and youngsters in my family. I wrote until my hand was stiff, then took time out to put the stamps on and add some stickers. I spent time cutting out more cancelled stamps for my diagonal project and then made a few envelopes from repurposed magazine pages. Some of them are really heavier weight paper, and make decorative envelopes for the swaps I send out. I'm getting better at repurposing any paper because of this dedicated day.

When I opened the top drawer where I am keeping the Winter Solstice projects, a Halloween table runner urged me to pull it out. I found batting leftovers to fit, a back and binding. Hand stitching the binding is almost finished. Its not really a Winter Solstice gift as much as it belongs to one of my Granddaughters. I've been making each of them a box of mini quilts or other things for their apartments/homes. Two grrls are already on their own.

Being in the valley forest of Yosemite and always looking up to see trees and mountains, brought me closer to the place of remembering to slow down, to enjoy the moment and to breathe. As I sit looking out my window at night, the lessons remind me to stay full of wonder and to live life to its fullest.