Mom’s Vintage Linens-Grandma’s, Too

I went to my sister’s house this past Sunday just to stop in for a few minutes and left with a treasure.  My mother passed away as the result of an accident when I was in my twenties.  I had one child at the time and he was only two.  I felt as though I was developing a relationship with my mother at that point that was different than the relationship we had when I was growing up.  I always loved my mother and enjoyed spending time with her.  Just being near her even if no words were spoken was always precious to me.  Before her death I had begun to see her in a role similar to the one I now had, as a mother.  I looked to her for advice on so many things and appreciated her thoughtful, gracious, ever mindful of my status as a novice at this, words.  While at my sister’s she had been going through her house and organizing i.e. getting rid of things and had a bag that contained some of my mother’s linens, and some of her mother’s (my grandmother’s) linens.  My sister asked if I wanted them, and I could not have answered more enthusiastically, YES!  My sister also mentioned that she thought Grandma had stitched some of them herself.  I brought the bag home and went through each one wondering if my mother’s soft touch had been the last to touch these hating to disturb this window into the past.  I sorted the linens in to piles, took pictures to share and then placed them carefully back into their container.  If I had purchased these at a yard sale or an antique shop, I would have immediately laundered and ironed them, but I may just leave these as they are instead remembering the gentle loving hands that realized the importance of preserving these treasures for the future.  hugs, mb