ONE YEAR

After a restless night, we awoke to a pretty Fall day, the realization that my mom would have turned 86 today, and a lovely surprise on the front porch.

(Bosco left me a surprise on the dining room floor, but much less lovely.)

One year ago today, Miss Charlene Her Very Self invited me to dinner and asked me if I might like to come back to the guilds, so today she delivered a perfect little Happy Anniversary bouquet of flowers to me.

It's an interesting history with me and Miss Charlene and the guilds.

The first time I joined, it was as one of the Rich Sisters.  My sister and I started attending guild meetings as a way to meet other stitchers in the aea and to learn new things.  I loved it, and was very happy to sit quietly and melt into the wallpaper, but then life got in the way and we stopped going.  And, as per my usual modus operandi, I completely retreated from the world in general, stayed inside my house, and just tried to get on with it.

It's no secret that I made a complete hash of it....first with working for the hyena and then by falling into the well of sister drama again, but through it all, Miss Charlene was there....reading my blog and waiting for the bat signal to appear.

She gently noodged me several times to come back to guild, and several times I said "Nope, don't wanna".  But then something magically clicked inside my brain and I heard my mom say "Coni Jo, you've been out here in this icy cold choppy dark dangerous water for a while, and now a big beautiful life boat has pulled up with these wonderful women on it and they are inviting you to get on board.  Get out of the damn water, kid, and get it that boat!"

And so I did.

I've always been a bit of a daft cow, and fully admit that it takes me a little longer to get to a proper conclusion than most other folks, but can I just tell you that one of my greatest feelings of pride is that I was finally smart enough to stop saying "No" and that I put my shoes and socks on and decided to re-engage with the world by means of these guilds?

You know me...I exaggerate for effect.  In spades.  But saying that Miss Charlene and the other passengers on board have saved my life doesn't come close to capturing how much I appreciate them.

It's been a wonderful year, despite some crazy developments with my stupid sister, my health, my Stewey little, and life in general, but I can promise you that the view from up here in the boat is better than I could ever have imagined.

Cocktails and stitching on the Lido deck for everybody!