I made Oliver this blanket when he was still in my belly incubating. Although I’ve been sewing for many years, I’m still a novice and my affinity for shortcuts and quickie methods doesn’t always serve my sewing projects well in the end.
The orange fabric on this blanket is called minkie. I love how soft and plush minkie is on a blanket, but because it is stretchy and slippery, it’s extremely difficult to sew. Thus, this blanket is a bit of a sewing disaster. The minkie didn’t line up with the flannel so I had to fudge it. (Fudge = very technical sewing term coined by my mother years ago.) If you lay it out flat you can see what a mess it is. Every time I wash it I have to readjust the pieces to turn it from a wad of fabric back into a blanket, but you know what? Oliver doesn’t care one bit.
Oliver loves this blanket. He sleeps with it. He takes it everywhere we go. He walks around the house tripping on it and rubbing the minkie on his cheek. He breathes in the smell of it and he will lay down on any hard surface with this blanket and a bottle and find pure bliss. He doesn’t care about the blanket’s problem areas, he only knows that he wants exactly what his blanket has to offer. Warmth and comfort.
I talk to many women each week who are struggling with feeling more competent, more at peace, and more confident about what they are doing for themselves and their families. These women are not perfect. They have faults and weaknesses, which they desperately want to overcome. But you know what? The people who need them don’t care one bit.
As soon as someone opens up in a way that is authentic and vulnerable and real, I love them. In fact, the more real and flawed someone will be with me, the more I respect and love them. Every one of us is going through this thing called life trying to “fudge” the parts of us that aren’t how we think they should be, and sometimes we forget to step back and see the truth.
The truth is you are loved more than you could imagine. There are people around you who need and love you. They don’t notice your problem areas like you do. They only know that what you have to offer is exactly what they need. They might be your kids or other family members. Maybe they are friends or people you serve through a job or at church or in other ways. Some days it’s a stranger you interacted with at the grocery story. Most likely it’s a combination of all of these people and none of them are focused on your faults. They only know they feel good when you’re there doing what you do. Providing your own version of warmth and comfort.
Not everyone would appreciate Oliver’s blanket the way he does and that’s ok. I made it for him. He’s the one I hoped would love it and he does. And not everyone will appreciate you either. And that’s OK. There are people in the world who need you exactly as you are. Your experiences and choices, both good and bad, have made you the perfect person to reach someone and affect them for the better.
Go find your people and then love them hard. They’re waiting for you.
