Betty and Eventide

I learned something about myself this last week.  My younger sister Sally and I had a 3~way call with Betty, our older sis, and then I called Betty back and had a LONG... 247 minutes... call with her, all on Tuesday. She was really "into" Pet Society on Facebook, (she had 8 pets!) and that day she taught me how to have my own pet, "Fred" and his "petling" kitty, "Honeybunch."

She had a lot of fun telling me what to do! LOL~ something she always loved was telling me what to do!....

Betty was in very poor health, and one of the topics during our call was what a terrible night she had gone through the night before, so when I hung up I told her to call me even if it was in the middle of the night. I live in Indiana and she was in Texas, so there was really nothing I could do to help, but I told her to call anyway, whatever the hour. I said, "And tomorrow, we'll set up "Fred's" new room."
She said, "Yes........ tomorrow." We said we loved each other and hung up.

The next morning I called her, but she didn't answer.  Later in the morning, Sally called me and asked if I had heard from Betty, because she hadn't answered the phone for Sally either. It totally could have been the case that Betty just didn't want to answer, so Sal and I just let it go... but a few hours later, Sally called me back and told me that Betty's son had called her and told her Betty had passed away in her bed the night before. She and I both sobbed, because really the three of us were so close.

Now here is the strangest thing to me. When I got this call from Sally I was in the process of assembling my Eventide blocks into a top. Rich was outside working in the yard, but when I hung up from talking to Sally I had the STRONGEST urge just to keep sewing. I argued with myself that I should go tell Rich the news, but, I SO wanted just to attach another block. I forced myself to tell him instead, but then, after he hugged me and held me and listened to my stories, I immediately went back down to the sewing room, which I guess is "my" spot in the house. I wandered around for a few minutes touching the fabric bundles and the machine, and the iron, etc.~ and then I just gave in to my impulse and sat down and sewed. I was literally sobbing and sewing at the same time. I was crying so much I couldn't see the needle and had to keep blinking and pushing the fabric through!  (I just didn't understand why it seemed so necessary for me to do that, but it made perfect sense to Rich. So maybe even though opposites attract, there may be deeper similarities between us that are not immediately apparent.)

I'm still processing all this stuff, but I found that such an odd reaction from myself. Overall, I realize that piecing quilt tops is not just something I do, it IS a part of me that I only found 2 years ago. And also I think it's so very appropriate that the quilt I was working on was named, "Eventide." I've always been a "name" person, and part of the reason I love Eventide is it's name, but who knew it would have anything to do, timing~wise, with Betty's Eventide.

All I can really say is, that it definitely helped me to put those blocks together on that afternoon. "Life is Beautiful" ~sometimes in the strangest of ways. And Eventide will always be "Betty's" quilt and very precious to me.