Don’t Wait Too Long Saving Something for a Special Day.

Time Can Fly Fast While You Wait For That Special Day. Maybe Today Should Be That Special Day.

I was cleaning out a closet last year and ran across my pile of pillowcases that aren’t matched to sheets. Some of them are just leftovers, but I found a set that I had totally forgotten about. White pillowcases embroidered with red roses.

Embroidered by me, when I was in grade school and visiting my grandmother one summer.

I don’t think I had ever used them. I was saving them for something special. And here we are, more than 50 years later, and they had never been used or put anywhere except in a closet. (If I was the author of children’s books I might write a story about how sad the pillowcases were to never be used ….)

I remember clear as day my grandmother getting out her box of embroidery threads (which I still have somewhere), and her envelope of embroidery patterns (ditto), allowing me to pick which pattern and threads I wanted to use. Then we rode the bus to the Kresge Five and Dime Store (that era’s version of Dollar Stores, except it also had a lunch counter) and picked out two white pillowcases for me to work on. Once my grandmother showed me how to do the different stitches I would embroider them in the evenings while we watched some game show on TV.

I was really happy doing them and couldn’t wait to show my mother when I got home. She was wonderfully enthusiastic, bless her, even though I know now that for her hand embroidered items were a sign of not being able to afford more expensive and modern things at the store. It’s not that she didn’t appreciate the hand work that decorated things in her life growing up, she was just ready to be modern.

It didn’t seem that long ago to me that all that happened … until I sat down and did the math.

How did 50+ years go by so quickly? And why had I never used those pillow cases? What was I waiting for?

Do you remember Erma Bombeck? After seeing those pillowcases I was reminded of her poem, If I Had My Life To Live Over... I thought it said something about using the good china and not just saving it, but she must have said that in some other context. The closest this poem had was this: “I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.”

Yes. I know that now. Time to use those special things. Bombeck’s poem has other gems of wisdom in it — it’s short and well worth the read (linked above).

So I am now using those pillowcases as pillow shams, on a bed covered by a handmade quilt I got from my grandmother that I was also saving. Like my mother, I wouldn’t want my whole house decorated like this, but I do like them in that bedroom. It’s a cozy feel. And it reminds me regularly of my grandmother, making me smile. I found my special day for them.

So … guess my mythical children’s book would have a happy ending. The pillow cases are not stuck in a closet anymore, but are living their best lives being used and bringing pleasure to those who see them.

Do you have something you are saving for a special day? Maybe today is that special day, and maybe every day will be that special day. Don’t wait too long — 50 years goes by pretty fast.

Have a great weekend!

Audra

Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Because where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”