WHAT IS THE GREATEST GIFT?

So this quilt is the gift the enrichment students of Homewood Middle School presented to me. It's not any ordinary quilt: this one contains special pieces of fabric from each child -- sports team t-shirts, dance costumes, favorite robes, snippets of blankets, even the ear from a well-loved teddy bear.

And to make it even more precious, the students put the stories of their quilt pieces into a book for me called "The Story of Our Quilt." The book contains a swatch of each fabric, and each child's story is stitched into the pages.

I was so touched by the way these kids took this project to heart. They seemed to put such thought into the pieces they chose. Some even admitted in their writing how it was hard to give up a piece of that treasure, but how they knew I would love and care for their stories.

What a gift. From the teachers who hatched the plan and the parents who helped and the whole group that orchestrated such a special project. I am in awe, and I'm honored, and this quilt will join my Ludelphia doll on all my LEAVING GEE'S BEND adventures.

And made me remember this Mary Oliver poem. Mary Oliver is on my mind because I get to meet her on Sunday in Atlanta!! So for Poetry Friday, I offer it to you. Roundup is with the lovely Elaine at Wild Rose Reader.


What is the greatest gift?
by Mary Oliver

What is the greatest gift?
Could it be the world itself — the oceans, the meadowlark,
the patience of the trees in the wind?
Could it be love, with its sweet clamor of passion?

Something else — something else entirely
holds me in thrall.
That you have a life that I wonder about
more than I wonder about my own.
That you have a life — courteous, intelligent —
that I wonder about more than I wonder about my own.
That you have a soul — your own, no one else's —
that I wonder about more than I wonder about my own.
So that I find my soul clapping its hands for yours
more than my own.