Eleven years ago I moved into the small central Oregon town of Sisters, home of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. I took advantage of the culture of Sisters and learned to quilt. I fell in love with it. Cutting perfectly good pieces of material into smaller pieces of material and sewing them back together again.
Who knew there was so much community around quilts? There are quilting guilds to join where people come to quilt together, talk about quilting, teach quilting and show off quilts they made. There are classes, cruises, contest and quilters even have their own QuiltCon.
When we moved from Oregon to Hawaii, I searched out the Maui Quilt Guild and added the monthly meetings to my calendar. As the meetings approached each month I would find some reason not to go; visitors, appointments, events, health. In December my excuse was the weather. The wind was trying to blow the trees over. I am grateful for a gentle breeze but gale force winds are brutal, especially if you have long hair. Also the voices from the committee in my head (see previous column) were working overtime to keep me from going out the door because I might feel uncomfortable. So as the time for leaving began to approach, I was talking myself out of it.
Enter Facebook. One of the places I go for assurance that I am liked and loved; that virtual thing I use to distract myself from my real life. (Oops! It’s really been 2 hours? Guess I won’t be making that meeting after all). I question its worth sometimes. On this day however, I saw someone from Oregon post that they were freezing and snow was in the forecast (:)). Oh yeah. I remembered. I spent 28 winters in Central Oregon. I live on Maui now. It’s 85 degrees and sunny here. What’s a little bit of wind? Well, I am anxious about doing this, but if I don’t walk out the door my life might look like a butt-shaped indentation in the couch cushion. The committee voted for the couch but I took a deep breath and I just followed my feet out the door.
When I arrived there were about 10 women coming out of a community center Christmas caroling for the seniors who lived in the place where the guild meets. I had seen it was on the agenda for the meeting and I tried to be late enough to miss that part, but I wasn’t. So I was walking around in the wind with my hair blowing all over the place, singing Christmas songs, switching from alto to soprano so I can hit all the notes without squeaking, hoping that no one was listening. I thought that this little band of quilters would be fun to get to know. I could do it.
When we finally headed back to the community room where I figure there were about five more women, a surprising thing happened. We passed the community room and went around a corner to another meeting room that was filled with at least 80 women! They were beautiful! I love a room where the predominant hair color is gray. Holy moly! It was packed. There was a bounty of food that was mouth-watering and delicious looking. I was hungry! Anxiety acrobatics and Christmas caroling really give a girl an appetite!
I registered as a guest and found a seat at one of the tables, which wasn’t easy. There were birthdays, celebrations and announcements. Then the guests were asked to stand up and introduce themselves. Yep, me. When I stood up and said where I moved here from; they knew me for a true quilter. I was accepted into the fold. The people around me all wanted to talk to me now and asked me about the famous Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. As I was trying to figure out a plan for getting close to the front of the food line one of the announcements is that the guests get to be the first in line for food! Hallelujah!
There was a beautiful Hawaiian auntie who danced a hula that was so filled with love and grace it brought tears to my eyes. But something happened more incredible than the real food, love and acceptance I experienced (as opposed to the virtual food, love and acceptance I almost stayed home for).
A special part of The Maui Quilt Guild called the Redwork group made a quilt and auctioned it off to the members. They raised $1000. The quilt was donated to a family who had lost everything they owned in the Napa Fire. It was a beautiful quilt made of house blocks. It represented a new start for building their new home. The money was donated to a local non profit organization called the Pink Paddlers who used it to buy a canoe that had been offered for sale to them. They had been wondering how they were going to pay for it! They were in attendance to accept the check. They are a group of breast cancer survivors and their support-people. They encourage physical and spiritual recovery through paddling a canoe on the ocean. If you are a survivor your first trip out is free. (That’s me! I am a survivor!) They help you learn how to paddle and are very gentle with you if you need that. (I need that!) You can be part of it, even if that kind of physical activity is difficult for you.
What just happened? I had been watching folks out on the ocean surfing, on paddle boards and in canoes, thinking I could never do that, even though I was longing to do exactly that. Well here it was right in front of me, an opportunity to be brave, take a chance and try this amazing thing with folks who would understand and support me if I couldn’t do it. Sign me up!
I showed up the next time they were paddling a couple of days later. The weather was great, the ocean was calm. There were forms to sign and lessons to take. Here was another group of amazing people. I made it into the canoe and out onto the water. We paddled out a ways and circled the boats up. There was a prayer of gratitude, a Hawaiian sunrise chant, a Hebrew prayer for healing and an Asian chanting song. It was beautiful in a way that was deep and connecting. It filled my soul. Being out on the ocean away from the relative safety of the shore in that canoe was exhilarating. The water was so clear you could see the bottom, the coral, the fish. It was a spiritual experience. The women and men worked together as a team to get us where we were going.
It was interesting for me to be part of a team sport and truly enjoy it. I have never enjoyed being on any team sport my whole life. Volleyball, baseball, farm golf, horse shoes, Frisbee, three-legged races, caroling: No thanks.
But there I was on the ocean, part of a team, with these people I didn’t know but my heart did, doing something unfamiliar, but being brave and feeling more connected than ever seemed possible, especially to the voices that reside in my head and tell me, “It’s too windy,” “and “They may not like you,” or “Look at this comfy hole in the couch cushion!”
I almost listened to them. But then someone complained about how cold it was on Facebook, and I didn’t.
