The joys come from putting the welfare of others above our own. That is what love is.”
-Henry B. Eyring
691
A Whale’s Gratitude–For Real
I rarely post stories like this because I like to be responsible enough to credit the author. Someone sent me this awhile back and sadly, we have no idea who wrote the original article. If it is you–please let me know and I’ll be happy to credit you with this fabulous piece. Today–April Fools Day felt like the perfect time to tell a wonderful story that unlike many things you’ll hear today–is actually true. It’s a good reminder to all of us that showing love and gratitude is one of the most important things we can do in this life.
*****
…The Whale… If you read a recent front page story of the San Francisco Chronicle, you would have read about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth.
A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallon Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her. They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her.
When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around as she was thanking them.
Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth said her eyes were following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.
May you, and all those you love, be so blessed and fortunate to be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you. And, may you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude.
I pass this on to you, my friends, in the same spirit.
It’s a good life
693
Happy Birthday Emily!
::Quilts For Japan:: The Connection
We promised the good folks at “Quilter’s Newsletter” that we’d send the first batch of our lovely Quilts for Japan to them this week. Feeling quite prudent about our options, April and I decided to hand deliver them, which meant of course–ROADTRIP!!
The drive from Utah to Colorado is–for the most part–a scenic, beautiful thing as long as you are wise enough to do it in the daytime.
Note to self: Driving through snowy canyons and mountain passes with ice freezing on your windshield is much more terrifying at 11:00 at night–therefore leave earlier next time.
We realized that this was the wrong time of year to judge the landscape and we had to constantly remind ourselves that in a couple of months this prairie would likely be a gorgeous shade of green…
and that this ominous “edge of the world” type drop off would be filled with blossoms and hence even more…umm…scary looking. We stayed far away from that thing–I’ll tell you!
We were chased along by several of these cloud bursts before it became way too dark to see anything. When we finally arrived in Golden, Colorado, we checked into our hotel close to midnight. I personally can’t remember much after pulling the covers up to my chin and closing my eyes.
We woke up to a nice dusting of good old, Colorado snow.
Here’s a sweet little poolside gazebo right outside our window. Alas–no time for ice swimming on this trip…ha ha.
We did our best to write and attach just the proper message to each of the quilts. This symbol is suppose to mean “Love.” At least we sincerely hope it does!
I wrote most of the English messages and April tackled the Japanese. Isn’t it lovely?
Next, we carted all those quilts back out to the car. We got some pretty strange looks from people. I wanted to say, “We always bring our own bedding…just in case,” but I wasn’t brave enough.
After following April’s IPhone GPS–we finally arrived at the Quilting Magazine headquarters…
and even found the perfect parking place.
We were warmly greeted by Senior Editor and author, Kelly Smith, and Contributing Editor Dana Jones. They seemed quite pleased with our quilts.
It was exciting to see that we were not the first to send donations for the Japan project.
Each box held a breathtaking offering of warmth for our friends in Japan, but honestly–
we felt pretty toasty inside ourselves. :}
Thank you Dana and Kelly and Quilter’s Newsletter for giving us the opportunity to serve our neighbors. You’re amazing! Second shipment coming soon.
696
{ Love and Laughter }
All you need in the world is love and laughter. That’s all anybody needs. To have love in one hand and laughter in the other.”
August Wilson
698
::Quilts For Japan:: With Love
Ahhhh….the piles are getting higher and higher–thank you everyone–and there’s still a lot going on around here to help our sweet friends in Japan.
We are still designing…
measuring…
(aren’t those painter’s tape measuring lines brilliant?!–wow April!)
cutting…
piecing…
sewing…
and making it all come together.
We’ll be sending the quilts out —hopefully early next week–to Dana at Quilter’s Newsletter, in Colorado, where they will be shipped to Japan and distributed to those who are cold and suffering. We need to hurry. :]
We have 34 finished, 7 that need binding or tying, about 12 farmed out to friends, and 24 kits that are bagged and tagged and waiting for some loving souls to take them home and complete them–quickly, quickly. If you’d like to help–please email me at Launi@GraciousRain.com–and we will hook you up!
Check out Sachiko’s at Tea Rose Home’s post about April’s Quilts For Japan event–with some great pictures–as well as April’s Quilt’s For Japan Update.
703