The Museum at FIT announced an online exhibit entitled “Wearing Memories.” I immediately thought of my childhood friend, our sewing adventures, and the fabulous patchwork smocks we made. As a 60th birthday gift to me I had resolved to say “yes’ to life and she gifted me with this “yes” necklace. The greatest gift, though, was the knowledge that all these years later she is still sharing “yes.”
Following is my entry to FIT museum exhibit:
Yes. Full of the confidence of youth, before all of the world’s “no”s took hold; we said “yes.” My best friend and I gathered our fabric scraps and set to work. We would make patchwork smocks! Of course we would, it would be easy. And, really, it was. How much simpler to create when you are 14 and haven’t yet learned to judge, to question, your capabilities.
In the scraps I can still see her perfectly crafted black & white ruffled dress and others we made for ourselves and our Raggedy Anns.
Today, I also see the pieces of our lives, wrought from such similar cloth, separated or broken apart by time. Yet always mended and pieced together into a new and beautiful whole.
My friend’s smock is lost to time, but her friendship and belief in me are still by my side. Once again telling me “yes” …