The Mother's Day Project

I joined the Mother's Day Project and received my materials late last week. Part of the process is to share one's thoughts and feelings while participating. I wanted to post something, but blogger was being quite impossible. I will attempt to complete that task today by copying an email I sent to Anne at treadingwater. If you haven't heard of the Mother's Day Project, I encourage you to check it out.

Dear Anne,
I received your letter today with the fabric and Amy A. Duerksen's name. I cannot put into words the feelings I had/have on opening up that envelope. It astounds me that such a small scrap of fabric, with an even smaller notation of a name, could have such power. I did learn a bit about Amy by googling her name. The picture of her showed a very young woman, a beautiful young woman, with such warmth and life. When I think about putting needle to this scrap, pulling thread up and down, I am reminded of why women have stitched for centuries. Certainly they stitched out of necessity, they stitched out of Joy and Sorrow, they stitched to brighten their lives, they may have even stitched out of vanity. They welcomed wee ones into the world, they kept their families warm and clothed, and they stitched to celebrate and mourn those they lost.
I cannot speak for others here, but I will stitch for Amy, not out of personal loss, but out of a belief that war is wrong, that these women (an men) deserve so much more. They deserve to live out their lives as they choose, to become mothers and/or fathers, to have the freedom to greet thousands of dawns, to dream and to have some of those dreams become reality. I will also stitch to celebrate her short life. I hope to honor her, and as I do so, I will think of her family, her friends-all those who loved her, and wish that this small gesture could lessen their pain.