As a young woman and a new mother, I was involved in volunteer work with the Lamaze organization which had trained my husband and me for the birth of our first child. I met many other women through that organization, but Linda was special to me. She was friendly, giving, generous with her time and a great listener.
When Linda became pregnant with her second child, a group of Lamaze volunteers held a baby shower for her. I was unable to attend because I had to work that evening. But I wanted her to have something from me that would tell her I cared about her and her little ones. I made a baby quilt and sewed a name label into it to tell her it was handmade by me.
Then we lost track of each other. I was busy with my home, my family, my work, my own second pregnancy and the consequences of the death of my father-in-law. Linda gave birth to a healthy baby boy. I gave birth to my daughter. I gave up my volunteer work and stayed at home to raise my children.
One evening about three years later, I received a call from Linda's husband. I was puzzled as to why he would call, but he had a story to tell. The little boy for whom I had made the quilt had grown and developed normally for the first two years, but then had stopped walking and eventually could not move his legs at all. He had just undergone surgery for correction of a spinal defect; the surgery had only a fifty percent chance of success. When he came out of surgery his parents and doctors observed him carefully for any sign of leg movement. To comfort him, they gave him his favorite blanket, my handmade quilt. As he took the quilt into his hands, his legs moved for the first time. Linda wanted to let me know that my gift had mattered.
I thanked him for sharing that moment with me, hung up the phone and wept tears of joy and gratitude. The memory is as poignant today as it ever was. I am so grateful that a gift given in love and friendship carried that very message so effectively.
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