all wrapped up

Ever since I can remember, my mom has been crocheting baby blankets. Sometimes they're the simple edged blankets, but often they're the real deal. I can recall dozens of blankets flying out of her fingers, and there are just as many babies who've been wrapped up in her creations. Through the years, she developed a system: one pattern for baby boys, one for girls. And I would watch those blankets twist into life and yearn deep inside for one of my own, for a blanket for my baby. I loved the soft yarn she chose specifically because it would be soft on a baby's brand new skin. I loved the patterns she chose and the precision with which each pattern came to life. I knew that someday...someday...my baby would be wrapped up in my mom's love.

When she came to visit a few weeks ago, she brought me my blankets - one boy pattern, one girl pattern, both white, both exquisite in their simple beauty. After she left, I buried my face in them. They smell like her, like home, and I know her hands so very lovingly created them. When I showed Jess the blankets, I couldn't quite find the words I was looking for to express how he needed to "Look! Look at these!"

For years I've watched these blankets stack up, and for years I've known that someday my baby would come home in one too. There is something unbelievably comfortable about knowing my baby will come home wrapped up in her love, a place I've returned to over and over again.

NOTE: If it's a boy, it will be the "basket weave" pattern on the left. For a girl, the "scalloped" pattern on the right.