A Green Afgan

"A box just arrived for you."

"There's a box on the table that has your name on it."

"What's that box all about, Penny?"

"Aren't you gonna open your box?"

For two days I skirted questions about the unopened box. It arrived last Friday. I left it sitting on the table until yesterday.

I had been expecting the box. My sister-in-law had called me and told me she was sending the box. "You and George were so close. You loved each other so much. I love you too. He would have wanted you to have what's in the box. Maybe it will help you heal." Those were her words when she called and told me of it's impending arrival.

So yesterday I got the courage to take the box to a private place. I didn't want other's watching as I opened the box. I knew that the grief that I keep in a special place would come tumbling out. I knew that I would hear my brothers voice, see my brothers face, feel the special love we had for one another.

Inside the box was a green afgan. Oh my God! Mom had made that afgan for George when he was a young boy. He had loved that afgan. It was so special. Mom had made it just for him. He used to lie on the floor and watch the evening news with pop and he would wrap that afgan around himself like a cocoon.

My sister-in-law had put a note in the box. She said that in the evenings when it was cold and he was tired he would get the afgan and wrap it around himself. She said that he would often tell her it contained all the family memories in the green yarn. She thought the family memories should be passed on to the sister that had loved him so much.

Mom, pop, brother.....................they are all gone now. The green afgan is what I have to hold now. My mother's face as she knit the ball of yarn into a beautiful piece of warmth. My brother's face as hewrapped himself into the warmth and felt so special because mom had made it just for him. My father's face as he looked at these two people that he loved. When I looked at the green afgan that is what I saw. When I looked at the green afgan I saw a treasure. My family, my memories, my brother!

What a wonderful thing that box had contained. What a wonderful, thoughtful, loving gift my sister-in-law had sent me.