Ties That Bind

Last Saturday I put the final stitch into the binding of this,

Roughly 70" x 92"

wrote and ironed the label,

then flang it into the washer (hot water) then dryer (high heat) (I abuse the quilts before the owners get a chance, so I can assure them it's already gone through worse than they'll ever do to it). If I timed it right, I could get it delivered before my son went to bed (I had no idea what Jesse's schedule was, but I could see with my own eyes that Carl was still awake because he was streaming on Twitch).

Rather than try to fit everything into a label, I wrote my thoughts in a card. Lots more room to really describe what went into the decision to gift this.

COVID be damned: when Carl opened the door I insisted on a (faces averted, because he wasn't wearing a mask) long, fierce hug. It was glorious, and filled places in the souls of us both. Then I handed over the box containing the quilt and a couple of books I was returning, and drove back home.

The next morning I tuned in early to their Twitch stream, let them know I was there, and asked if the box had been opened yet. It hadn't, technically. Carl had opened the lid and saw the books, poked a bit to see if his guess at the rest of the contents was correct (but hadn't unwrapped anything), then put the lid back on. Turns out, Jesse at one point later that night also opened the lid, saw the books, assumed the entire box was for Carl and closed it up again. So when I tuned in, the actual contents were still mostly a mystery to them both.

So the opening began. The books were easily dispatched. Then came a tissue-wrapped object with a card taped to it, addressed to Jesse. He took some time (a LOT of time) to read it to himself while Carl tried to keep things moving with their audience.

It's a generational thing: I write in cursive. You can just make out the top of the card extending beyond the white stuffed critter.

Then after drying his eyes, he unwrapped the quilt and immediately hugged it to himself.

It took both of them to display it (partially), and they spent way too much time showing its back to the camera.

I'm busy writing in chat, "Show the pretty side!", and they finally turned the whole thing around.

Carl left for a bit then returned wrapped in his own quilt which I made for him back in 2007.

There will be plenty of hugs to share and details to talk about when we're all allowed in the same room again, but for now this will have to do. As far as virtual gift-giving goes, I think it was a success!