Learning to receive

Beautiful double peony from the garden..........As quilters we make and give quilts to family, to friends, for holidays gifts, for baby gifts.  We send our creations to charities, to hospitals, and in times of disaster to unknown parts of the world even.  We give away fabric, and books, and an assortment of items on our blogs.  We give  our ideas, and teach freely through our blogs.  Quilters as a whole are givers.  I am a quilter and a  giver.  Now it is time for me to learn to receive.  How hard can that be?  

  Not hard, just very humbling.  It  is a learning lesson about the kind of impact my actions of  giving must have on others.  I have had emails, and phone calls, and cards--by snail mail--  from many who follow my blog and present plight and  from the very special Mrs. Clauses around the world.  Who would have thought they would be reaching out to me?   Such a small thing to say hi, and send well wishes,  yet such a very huge presence to my day.  Encouraging words are priceless.

  And meals....from the gals of my Bible study group.  Sir Old Man does not cook and is considered  to be very dangerous with a whisk.  He makes coffee.  He cleans up my mess in the kitchen.  But cooking  is not his best talent.  Enter meals from WOW and all is well. Very well fed.   Becky even sent me chocolate covered cherries to keep me smiling when in pain.  Thank you all.

  As for the arm/shoulder....just a little anatomy lesson.  The humerus is the long upper arm bone.  It is very important to our balance and movement.  Try doing anything --brushing your teeth, getting dressed, cutting your meat at dinner--without using the upper arm. Then realize it must stay flat against your body with no movement.  Very difficult.  

  Anyway,  I have a fracture straight across---which is good-- and will heal with time with nothing more than a sling support.  I also have 2 fractures above the straight line---this is the bad part.  The pieces have shifted out of place and need to be reduced and put back, thus the surgery.  Also no nerve damage, which is the most excellent news.  That is why there is no urgent rush to do the surgery, which will happen sometime next week.  For now, the treatment is pain medicine and ice and use the sling support. 

  Unfortunately, the arm in sling makes it difficult to dress very fashionably.  This is   my selection of attire.  The huge stack of t-shirts that Justin and Dan left with me for t-shirt quilts came in so handy.  Left sleeve is completely removed and the shoulder is slit armhole to neck.  Any one of my huge selection of safety pins provides closure.


I can support Clemson or promote Harleys for at least a few weeks.  Ha!  They were going to be cut up anyway for a quilt,  let the quilter enjoy them a bit first. 

And my brother is more concerned about how big the scar will be.....who cares? 
It is not like I will be entering a beauty pageant anytime soon.

So, all encouragement gratefully received.  Thank you.
And just a sneak peek at the watercolor banner in waiting......for the quilting.  I had it ready for the needle when this life event happened.  It will be the first item on my agenda, as I have special plans for it. 
 Happy stitching.