Our family – my sister and her family; Bill and I have been on a 5-month journey…..it’s been a different kind of journey…one in which my brother-in-law had a routine surgery, he went home and then two days later his body systems were in trouble. He entered the hospital again on August 25 (and was in hospital or rehab) until he left this earth on January 23…..you can read more about him and his journey at our family blog.
Knitting…one of my life long “loves”.
As we prepare for his services we are all going through our photo boxes…we have found many….you can see some of those at my family blog. I found one of me ….guess what I was doing? If you click through (as I did) you will see that I am looking a little tired…..I am going to bet that the weight of my hair was exhausting me!! It certainly wasn’t the knitting.
My brother-in-law Jim was at this family gathering at my mom’s home….knitting traveled everywhere with me….thus all my family experienced my “joy”. While I never knit anything for Jim…I did for the children – Honara, Sundee, Michael and Jeffrey. Some of you have heard me tell the Christmas story of the gift I gave to Jeffrey when he was 5 or so. I wrapped up the knitted vest…almost done…included the needles and the yarn. When Jeffrey opened his gift he said, “Auntie, there is a mistake here. This belongs to you…knitting!!” The laughter that followed was great…I took the gift home and completed it for Jeffrey. We still tell this story and Jeffrey is now 33!
I fear that I am bit rambling today…but truly I am reflecting on many things about Jim’s life. I recall that Corrie ten Boom reflected on her life and said that she led an “uneventful” life until she helped during WWII. I think Jim might..just might think his life was uneventful. However, this is not the reality. He married my sister Betty who had two young girls…he adopted them and formed the family unit before the nephews were born. Jim and my sister raised four lovely children (of course, I am proud)! As my sister says, “He touched many lives…particularly young people!”
He didn’t knit…but I loved him anyway! During the years we would often “butt” heads…but I have to say I couldn’t have more regard, love and respect for Jim and the way in which he handled the last five months of his life. He left us with a gift on how to behave. Some of his last thoughts and words were….”Be kind and loving to each other.” I gained a whole new respect for my brother-in-law…but damn, he still didn’t take up knitting! We will all miss Jim!
Jim and Betty – when their daughter Honara married April 1990.
Skein Lane - IN THE LOOP 