Embroidered Friendship

Tonight I watched my tiny one trace the stitches her great grandmother had embroidered on a table cloth. This after she continually "toasted" friendship to her Dad, brother and me. There is nothing like clinking your glass to a sippy cup "Friends!" How I love this little ritual her brother started. Though she doesn't say the words the feeling is there. Oh how I hope that friendship between the four of us will continue to grow forever. I hope too that those little connections of tableclothes and cups will forge strong bonds. I have to tell you about that table cloth. I love it. It was given to us by my Aunt and Uncle as a wedding gift. It is extrodinary in two ways: 1. My Grandmother is gone and it helped me feel her presence on that important day in my life. 2. My Grandmother was going to get rid of that tablecloth because it had a stain on it. My Aunt rescued it because of all the work Grandma had done on it. It's square with geese and strawberries embroidered in a square in the center. Then there are details of strawberries in the corners. One of these corners may carry a pizza sauce stain after tonight. I will treasure it all the more if it does because those tiny fingers touched the thread that her Great-Grandmother wove into the fabric long before she was born. Two women I love.