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Encouraging Heroes. You can be one too.

I washed the younger boys’ bedding yesterday, and didn’t get their quilts dry in time for bed so I went digging in their closet for a substitute. My hand fell on two blankets that had been crocheted by Hubby’s paternal grandmother long ago so I grabbed the top one and spread it over The Manager.

“Where’s that from?” he wondered.

I explained that his Great Grandma had made the blanket when Hubby was young. Not the Great Grandma he remembers, but another one who’s in Heaven now.

“She made that? Great Grandma made the blanket?”

“Yup,” I answered. “She made them a long time ago.”

“I want to have a blanket too!” came the voice from the lower bunk, sending me back into the closet.

The first blanket was a brown with zig-zag stripes while this one was blue. Grandma had stitched the outline of a Boy Scout eagle on it in red. The Captain noticed the design immediately and inquired.

“Ooooohhhhhhh, you got a Scout blanket!” The Manager exclaimed. Both boys were really pleased with their covers and settled down as I turned out the light and left.

Isn’t it cool how family ties can be bound just with something as simple as a blanket? Being only 5, trying to know a grandmother who died before they were born isn’t easy. But sleeping at night under a handmade blanket suddenly made her real for them. I’ve never done well with the whole scrapbooking thing, but I am reminded again of the need for pictures and artifacts to help connect the boys to family members who’ve gone before as well as those that are still with us.

So how about you? What treasures in your home tie your past with the future?


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Earnest Parenting: help for parents who want to have tight families.