Mother’s quilt provides a warmth
Beyond its fiber down
Each night I’m wrapped in love,
Our family history, and my wedding gown
Mother cut with care her patterns
Each scrap to trim and save.
Just as she did with the numerous fabric remnants
That to her others gave.
Each patterned square reveals a story
Of our family’s growth and change.
It is far better than an album, for this memento speaks to me
Of many precious moments the camera did not see.
Part of each marriage ceremony was mother’s quilt-gift to the bride.
It makes me smile just to recall the sparkles in their eyes.
Lambs and teddy bears announced each baby’s birth,
And pink and green pajama scraps retell of Christmas mirth
When winter days were turning cold and all the canning done
Daddy would set the frame up firm, for quilting time had begun.
I’m so glad I still can hear them today, as I am wrapped
Inside this priceless heirloom that warms me as I nap.
There you are mom, I see you…among the colors bright,
In your kitchen dresses gingham aprons and your gowns for night.
They all remind of you and of the things that you’ve been through,
The smiles and tears, the strife, mostly of your teaching of the wrong and of the right.
My quilt would not have been the same without your understanding care,
My sorrow and joy are sewn in, and hemmed by time and prayer.
Our lives were joined by chance they say. I believe by choice, and this is my great pleasure,
For a quilter of love and story like you, is indeed a priceless treasure.
It matters not that my coverlet is frayed and has tiny little tears,
Years of life and warmth and time, have helped to put them there.
So I wrap myself inside your quilt and feel your love and care,
And dream of how I will impart, to those I leave behind, the strength and courage you have shared with so many of humankind.
©Dr Jane A Simington, Ph.D.
Dr. Jane A. Simington, Ph. D., is the owner of Taking Flight International Corporation and the developer of both the Trauma Recovery Certification Program and the Grief Support Certification Program. She is the president of the Canadian Association of Trauma Recovery Providers. Dr. Simington compliments her academic background in both Nursing and Psychology, with an extensive knowledge of alternative and complimentary methods of healing, including the uses of energy-transfer-healing, dream interpretation, art and guided imagery.
Dr. Simington is adjunct faculty at Union Institute and University in Cincinnati Ohio, and St. Stephen’s College at the University of Alberta. She regularly facilitates programs and training sessions for a variety of other colleges and institutes, including Nechi Institute for Training and Health Promotion for Aboriginal Peoples in St. Albert, AB. and Grant Mac Ewan College, in Edmonton, AB. Dr. Simington is a frequent conference presenter, and workshop facilitator. Her numerous professional publications focus on her research and clinical interests in wholistic health, personal empowerment, spiritual well-being, dying, grief and trauma. Her work is featured in her books Journey to the Sacred: Mending a Fractured Soul, and Setting the Captive Free, the booklet, Responding Soul to Soul, the award winning films, Listening to Soul Pain and Healing Soul Pain and on CD’s Journey to Healing, Releasing Ties That Bind, and Retrieving Lost Soul Parts.