Sheets and duvets

Mine and hubby’s clothing had been easy to cull – they had been given out first. Next on my list was sheets and duvets.  One duvet was definitely on our list – it was hardly ever used and had been with us for nearly 20 years.

 

Let’s go through the sheets today, I thought.
One by one the stack piled up, though hesitancy started

creeping in – These were all good solid sheets ….

and as my hand touched the specific duvet covers I had so lovingly picked for my growing children,
my heart lingered and my fingers stopped.

The duvet with animals spread around smiling at the onlooker, another one with pixies dancing around daisies and tulips, others that my eldest had so endearingly picked as sets –  lilac ones with pretty flowers, and sea blue ones with bold interwoven patterns.

No, I thought decisively, I am not ready to let go of these.

I can still feel the children’s essence of life in these sheets,  still smell their ‘presence’ and sense their aura.  They have gone millions of miles away out of my life and the sense of being bereft never fails to creep in and out of my heart –  no matter how busy I am or how involved I am with stuff happening in my life.

These could still be used maybe for the grandkids, who knows …..

As I packed the stuff in the car and drove to work, my mind climbed all the way back to the time when I was leaving London to start work in Bedworth.  Mati asked me if everything was in place, was there anything I needed.  My very quick response was, I need clean sheets and a blanket.  Mati, too, was just as quick and more than happy to give me the best sheets and the nicest blanket, and made it a point to send me off with her blessings and the blessings of the extended family.

Through that particular incident the Lord taught me of the existence of a very real  ‘chord’ of love between a parent and a child. Yes there comes a time when that ‘chord’ is cut properly and at the right time, so the child can ‘start breathing on his / her own’ , set up home leaving the parents to go on into the next phase of their lives.  The ‘cut’ is always painful – how can it not be!!  The ‘chord’ is full of nerves that react to a million stimuli around us ….

‘Sheets’ of love and blessings covered my eldest, as she went from the family home to build a home of her own with her husband in England, as well as my second eldest as she stepped out to build her career.  The same interaction of love and care ensued when my youngest left to go to Melbourne University and then to Europe.

‘Sheets’ and ‘duvets’  are more than just the material they are made of.  They are the most ‘intrinsically woven threads’ of our daily life on earth.

“Hurricanes” of life will come and go – and the need to be covered with sheets of love and duvets of comfort and protection will ever remain, especially between parents and their kids overseas.  Even in the culling and downsizing of my life, these items are playing a critical role.