Maas

Maas' Hands

My good friend and neighbor is called Maas. Her oldest grandson named her that in the cute way kids do with their matter of fact reasoning. He was always being told “Let’s go to grandma’s,” and he simply shortened it to “Maas”. For as long as I can remember she has been making baby blankets, crocheting the most beautiful finishes around the edges. I used to watch her and her mother create them by the stacks when we were raising our babies together.
Maas is living my dream. All 3 of her children live close by, and she sees them several times a week. I have had the privilege of celebrating each of her grand babies births with her family; I waited in the hospital lobby with her family while their first grand baby was born. We went to breakfast at Denny’s with the tired new daddy. I have a picture of her oldest two grand kids as a screen saver on my phone. Maas took it when I helped her tend them while we waited for their mama and new baby brother to come home last summer. I laughed when Mike told me that the picture was copyrighted, and I would have to wait for my own grand kids to photograph. Not long afterwards, our son and his wife told us we were going to have our first grand baby.
As I anticipate my trip to Oregon to be with our kids, and celebrate our own joy, I am gathering precious things to pass on to their little family. I recently knocked on Maas door for a lesson in these beautiful crocheted blankets.

Maas Taught Me

She has these incredibly beautiful hands that are always decked out; sometimes with gold and diamonds, and sometimes with creative nail work. They show a life of hard work, and a balance of care. They move so gracefully through the thread and handle the hook with such skill; I am hard pressed to keep up with the consistency she demonstrates.

Hugs & Kisses Stitch

I have worked alongside those hands on many occasions and I have great respect for them. We cleaned construction messes off of windows and floors together for years, (those nails were often scrapers where I used razors!) Our hands have pitched hay together, gardened flowers and vegetables, peeled pears and peaches, washed mountains of dishes together, wiped little faces and bottoms; sometimes not even belonging to us, and most importantly, wiped each other’s tears. I am so glad to have Maas to teach me this art, and so thankful to be able to use it to welcome our precious little grandson into the world.

Sweet Dreams

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