The perfect storm

Sometimes in life, events conspire in such a way that the combination of their effects vastly outweighs the individual events themselves. You don't really see it happening until you're left in the aftermath, dazed and wondering wtf just hit you. You stagger around blinking stupidly in the sunlight after the departing clouds, and the most coherent thought you can form is "Wha....?"

Such was my life for the past 18 months or so. Things that would have been smallish, inconveniences... a few largish tragedies, culminating in the death of my beloved husband, and shortly thereafter, the deaths of two young friends of my stepdaughters. Life, my friends, sucked ass. And then my friends and family started pouring in. And cards, and phone calls. Neighbors dropped by with dishes of food. Friends dropped in with hugs and sandwiches and reminiscences. Loved ones tidied the kitchen and did the laundry. A box appeared, with goodies for me and my boys. A week later, another. And another. (And I'm ashamed to say it took me almost 6 weeks to notice the pattern.) Someone Evil (in a good way) masterminded the delivery of boxes of love to me and to my boys. I think the postman was starting to wonder, and I was starting to wonder how it was possible that anything else wonderful would fit in my house. Maple candies, cookies, fiber, Halloween goodies, fabric, funny little voodoo dolls, cow-tipping equipment, liquor, sweet books about kissy raccoons, stickers, cowboy gear, all the turquoise stuff you could imagine. Things that were sweet on their own, but combining had a warming, hugging effect for me and the boys that each couldn't have achieved on its own. And then the perfect storm.



This, my darling friends, is a blanket, made of squares solicited by yet another Evil Mastermind (Lynn in Tucson), and presented to me for my birthday. Beautiful warm stitches in fabulous patterns, sweet on their own, combined into a huge expression of love and support that no words can convey. There are squares from Oregon, California, Maryland. Wisconsin, Tucson, Finland. Hawaii. Maine. Alabama. Philly. Sewn together by Lynn and my other three local knitter friends, Andrea, Lisa and Stefanie. (Kept secret from me for two whole months!)
People, the tide has turned. I have felt the weight lift, the clouds roll back, the sun shine. My dear friends sent away the perfect storm of shit, with not one, but two perfect storms of love. It sounds incredibly cheesy, especially coming from my sardonic self, but I am so blessed, there just isn't any other way to say it.