The Mother's Day Project

Don't take this tree as a sign that fall has really hit.  Most of the trees around here still have green leaves, and they aren't losing their leaves.  This is the beautiful, bittersweet end of summer.

The Chocolate Dog is not at a bittersweet end yet.  His new medication regime seems to be helping, and he's still his regular active self, so there's a lot of hope that he has a good amount of time left with us.  I told DH today that I wanted to get a family photo, with dogs taken this fall to use for our Christmas cards.  Much to my surprised, he readily agreed.  Prior to having children, we always sent out cards with the dogs, and this seems a fitting way to memorialize the dog, whether or not he is still with us at holiday time.

I've also done something else to memorialize someone else.  Some of you may know about The Mother's Day Project, which began in May.  The idea was to stitch the names of all of the women killed in the conflict (?) in Iraq, and then assemble the names into a bag that each stitcher would be able to have for a short time.  I decided that, although this is way outside of my craft comfort level, it was important and I wanted to do it.  I signed right up and I got my name in mid-May.

I had every intention of embroidering my name over Memorial Day weekend.  It seemed a fitting time to do that.  But, as you all know, I ended up working over the weekend, and performing some not very pleasant work at that.  I've gone through a lot since that time, and just when things seemed to be getting back to normal (Labor Day weekend, a fitting bookend to my insane summer), my grandmother died and the dog got cancer, etc. . .   And I never really found the time when I was in the right mindset to sit down and stitch.  There's nothing like a deadline to snap me out of that.  The wonderful Anne, who organized this project, set a deadline and I had to get my head together and do this.

The stitching isn't perfect, I know, especially the curvy letters.  But I did it!  I had wanted to say something about Vira Pietrik, but information available in English is scant.  She was a Senior Sargeant in the Ukrainian Army who was killed in an IED attack on January 9, 2005.  Seven other Ukrainian army personnel died with her that day.  I don't know much else about her or her death, so I thought that I'd talk about what I thought about while I worked on this project.  I am humbled by the fact that so many people that I don't know, people from all over the world, have gone to fight in Iraq.   Thousands of them have lost their lives, and thousands more have had their lives forever changed due to injuries sustained during service.  And, whether or not you agree that anyone should be in Iraq or that the action being taken in Iraq is right, you have to have some respect for anyone who goes there and gives it her (or his) best under difficult circumstances.  That might be seen as an act of courage, honor, or duty, but what about as an act of love?  I hate to get all religious on you (especially seeing as my father has just disowned me for raising heathen children), but I think that the best way to say what I'm feeling is from John 15:13, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."  Regardless of whether Vira Pietrik and I agreed about what was going on in Iraq, regardless of whether she and I would have been friends had we known each other in life, she served, she lost her life, and in that she has become my friend.

Don't take this as a sign that I've gone all soft and loveable.  I do have my moments, though.  Have a great weekend!

Comments

[Liz K.]

Your father just disowned you? Really?????? Wow. I didn't think that really happened anymore.

I know you've been going through a river of sh*t lately. I've been thinking of you, and the chocolate dog. Hang in there, S.

[Cookie]

Well said.

He'll regret it. It may take time, but he will. Is it wrong that I think when the time comes you should make him crawl? Yeah, I'm still a bitch. :p

♥

[ellen]

I had trouble with my Mothers' Day Project, too. No trouble with the embroidery, but once I read about "my" soldier I couldn't bring myself to complete the essay. So many conflicting feelings, so much anger and sorrow.