July 08, 2005
Randy, Call Home!
As it happened, I did not get to play dollhouse yesterday. I heard about the bombings in London and thought how horrible, then about 1.2 seconds later I thought huh, my son is in Europe and I'm not sure where he is at the moment. I then felt very sick to my stomach.
With no way to reach him I just have to trust that he's okay and that he'll call someone-- me, his sister, his grandmother-- to let us know. I can stay by the phone and wait. I've done it before. There are people in England with very real catastrophes, I'm not going to obsess about an imaginary one.
The last time I sat at home for days on end waiting by the phone was when Randy's father was flying F-16 missions over Baghdad in 1991 and I was living in Spain. Randy was a first-grader at the time. He asked me, "Mama, when is Papa going to die?" What do you say? You can't say "he isn't" because then if he does, you have lost all credibility. I said "Papa will most likely die when he is very, very old."
Not working with a dollhouse, but with tiny needles on my mind and a decided bad attitude to how the Blush shoulder shawl is looking, I got the notion that I would knit the same doily using fine silk and very small needles (00000000, I think). After five or six attempts at getting it started (those needles are more slippery than a banana peel on ice) I decided I like this very much.
Following FlyLady's advice not to worry too much about perfection, I've ignored some obvious flaws towards the beginning (where I was trying to avoid having to begin again) and focusing on the remainder. I can set something like a vase on the middle of the doily and try for perfection the next time.
Oh dear. I hope you hear from your son today. The odds are that he's perfectly okay, just wrapped up in whatever he's doing.
I didn't know they made needles with that many zeroes. ;-) They must be no wider than sewing needles--sharps, you know?
It is still beautiful. And I hope all is well with your son.
Posted by: Anne on July 8, 2005 10:48 AMI'm sure your son is fine--I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you. (I remember when I was studying abroad several years ago, an incident was reported in the US while we were all stuck in the mess it made. We (the students) didn't know what had happened, but many parents back home were really scared for us. Most of us didn't contact our parents right away because it didn't occur to us that they would know, or think we were there, or whatever... I'm sure Randy is somewhere so far removed from London that it hasn't occurred to him yet that you might think he's there.)
Posted by: Judy H. on July 8, 2005 10:59 AMSheila, I'm praying for both you and your son - mostly for your peace of mind, because I feel certain that he's just fine.
Peace.
Posted by: sravana on July 8, 2005 05:07 PMI hope your son is OK and that you've heard from him. And while you know how much I love your knit lace, that is, perhaps, the most spectacular thing I have ever seen. Out of this world. Amazing. You're incredible!
Posted by: Jon on July 9, 2005 06:15 PM