Happy Mother's Day
Long ago, my Great-great Grandmother made this quilt.
I knew nothing of the quilt or her until years and years later.
But this quilt changed a lot in me and in my life.
What I knew, was this rocker. This is my Great Grandmother, Martha Hale. The rocker was her's and she was the one who sat in it. I remember her kitchen with a long white table and really heavy chairs. I remember the smells and I wish with all my heart I had been older to talk and listen to her. She lived until she was 93 years old.
This is my Grandmother, Glade, my hero, my heart and my friend. Grandma lived, she laughed, she played and she worked very hard in a man's world of her day. She was teaching and I was learning from her until the day she left us, I had the honor of being her grand-daughter.
On one of the very last times I'd visited my Great-Grandmother Hale. My Grandmother Glade remembers me saying, "I love that rocker." A week before my wedding Grandma Glade asked me to stop down, I did and when I arrived she gave me the rocker. She had it for years, I'd never seen it in her home. When I asked she said, "I've been holding it for you."
This is my mother in the rocker.
And my Belinda, my sister, with Grandma Glade. Belinda was 9 years old when I was born, she named me, she never played with dolls again, she had me, I was her doll.
She gave me her love and she has mine, 100% until the day I die.
These ladies and this rocker is a staple in my life and in our home, it has rocked many babies, and it has never asked for anything. It's as solid as my family of Ladies.
Happy Mother's Day
to all who are with us and in our hearts today.
Beth is the Author of The Quilt Ladies Book Collection
and Little Quilt Ladies Pattern Series
