This morning I woke up with the word “mend” on my mind. What a simply beautiful word. I kept thinking about it while I actually mended a few things.
- A suede jacket I inherited from my paternal grandmother.
- My daughter’s blue jeans…not a rip in a fashionable spot.
I realized that mend somehow uniquely seems more feminine to me than its masculine cousin, repair.
Mending and sewing connects me to the ancient wisdom of mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers, aunts and friends. Women have been sitting together stitching, solving problems, laughing and crying in gardens, front porches, church basements, adobes, tents and huts throughout the history of the world. This is a part of all of us, even if it hasn’t necessarily been our personal experience. We mend in the way I did today, but we also mend broken hearts, bones & skin, relationships, nervous systems, false narratives and so much more.
Here’s to mending whatever is in your literal or emotional stack of damaged goods.
Go ahead, tap into that ancient wisdom.
The ladies are waiting to help you.
Lovely!
I have been part of a quilt group of friends, some I have known for 40 + years. We meet once a month. We bring our projects to mend, sew, quilt, share ideas, laugh, eat, tell stories, help each other through crises, joy and other events. We welcome new people. There is not one of them I couldn’t call on. Did I say we laugh? We do that a lot. We meet at each others homes snd the host has a lunch or we potluck. One members husband said he loves to hear the laughter of women in the house. This made us smile. E mend each othrs soul.
Shirley S
Thank you for reading and responding to my post. Your group sounds like a remarkable team of sharing, caring and funny women. That’s really sweet that one of the husbands loves to hear the laughter in the house. You made my day!
My mother in law has been a ‘mender’ for as long as anyone can remember. Her darning is magic. It’s like a reverse cell multiplication. There is a hole and pretty soon that hole is closed over.
She is a fixer and a mender but I wouldn’t go as far as to say a hoarder. Her home is like a step back to the 50’s and looks just great.B
You had me at “reverse cell multiplication”—your mother-in-law sounds pretty interesting. As always, I love your insight. Best, Lisa