One Year Ago...

One year ago today I was lying in ICU, heavily sedated, with several broken bones, and a tube in my chest.  I was fighting for my life.  The coming of this anniversary has been on my mind over the past few months.  I wasn't sure how I would feel or how my husband and kids would react.  My best friend picked up the phone and checked on me around the very same time that she received the phone call...one year ago.

There are no words to describe what I experience each time I approach an intersection or hear the wale of a siren.  A sense of security that I once had no longer exists.  And that's okay.  See, I am healthy and living a full life.  More importantly, I have decided to pursue a dream.  I am teaching others to knit and working towards opening my very own knit shop.  I am living my life with passion and purpose and I'm doing so one day at a time.

This is what it means to be held, how it feels when the sacred is torn from your life and you survive.  This is what it is to be loved and to know that the promise was when everything fell, we'd be held.

 
As you read this post, I want to challenge you.  One year from now, make sure that you are not where you are today.

Until next time...

Nomo

Today my family is grieving the loss of our family pet, a beautiful Akita named Nomo.  Ever since I was a little girl, we have always had full-bred Akitas.  They are absolutely beautiful dogs.  They are incredibly protective yet gentle and loving.  I often thought of them as my "other brother".  Nomo was no different.  He will be sorely missed.

Until next time...

Share The Love

I recently combined my two favorite things.  I enjoy teaching and I love knitting.   So I decided to start providing knitting instruction to anyone and everyone who wants to learn.  I held my first "official" class and it was one of the most fulfilling things that I've ever done.

We looked at independently dyed (indy) yarns and garments that I have made.  Then we began.  I watched as they fumbled with finding a comfortable way to hold the needles, tried to determine which way to wrap the yarn, and struggled to keep the loops from slipping off of the needle.  I smiled seeing myself in them as I remembered my very first lesson.  We joked and laughed and they enthusiastically followed my every lead.

After awhile, with trial and error and effort, they slowly got it.  I began to see a bit of comprehension on their faces.  No, their stitches were not perfect.  But they understood what they were supposed to be doing even if they didn't always know how to do it.  This was the mark of being off to a great start.  And I was extremely pleased.

I encourage you to teach someone to do the thing that you delight in, whether its dancing, baking cupcakes, playing chess, building model cars, or gardening.  Whatever it is, share the love.  You'll be glad that you did.

Until next time... 

**NOTE: If you would like to learn to knit or learned as a child and would like to pick up the skill again and are in the DC metropolitan area, please contact me at cheryl@liveloveknit.net.  I'd love to have you join me.