Doilies

Thoughts of Summer.

I remember searching the second hand shops of Dunfermline for something we hardly ever see anymore, Doilies. I wanted them to cut up to add texture to some paintings I was doing at that time. 

I remember thinking that what I was doing was a kind of sacrilege. Somebody had taken time to crochet those and here I was cutting them up. I had remembered watching my Gran as she sat and crocheted at the side of the kitchen range.

On the other hand I had been told by the secondhand shop s that they usually end dup in the rag bins so I was giving them a second life.

I remember the story of the doilies. 

There once was a man and a woman who had been married for more than 60 years. They talked about everything. 

They kept no secrets from each other... except that the old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she cautioned her husband never to open it or ask her about it. 

For all these years he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would never recover.

In trying to sort out their affairs the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife's bedside. She agreed it was time that he should know what was in the box. 

When he opened it he found 2 beautifully crocheted doilies and a stack of money totaling over £10,000.  He asked her about the unusual contents.

"When we were married," she said, " my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doily." 

The little old man was so moved, he had to fight back tears. 

Only two precious doilies were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. 

He almost burst with joy and happiness.

"Sweetheart," he said... "that explains the doilies, but what about all this money? Where did it all come from?" 

Oh," she said, " that's the money I made from selling the doilies."

Would you believe me if I told you I had only ever argued with my wife twice? No. But that does not take away from the value of friendship and love.

To feel loved is to feel life.

Have a wonderful day.