by Diane Dean White

I marvel at the way God knows when to send a special gift of encouragement our way at just the right time!

My grandmother was from a town in the thumb area of Michigan. Summer after summer, I enjoyed staying with my grandparents as a young child. I was from the city and loved the small town they lived in. People knew everyone, their kids, their pets, their ancestors.

The bond with them continued to grow as I grew and they got older. Grandma was always using her hands for something exciting. She would make little sandwiches and we'd have tea parties, plant flowers and carefully tend them. She'd knit afghans for her grandchildren as well as make beautiful quilts for each one.

I remember the small thimble she would use while doing her needle work. Placing her thimble on her finger she'd remark, "I wouldn't want to sew without one."

A few years ago, when Grandma left this earth for her new residence in heaven, I bid farewell to a loving Grandmother. How quickly our lives can change. We had tea together a couple of months earlier, on her 91st birthday.

I missed her very much, but I noticed it most on my birthday, because there was no card from Grandma. She'd never forgotten my birthday!

On one particular birthday, when I was feeling a little low and a lot older, something happened to make me feel like she was sharing that special day with me.

I was arranging some colorful pillows that she had made, and suddenly I felt something inside one pillow, it was small and hard. I moved the object to a seam that I carefully opened, and to my delight out came a tiny silver thimble!

How happy I was to find something that had been a part of her. Not realizing it had fallen off her finger, I pictured her sewing it in that little pillow that I just "happened" to fluff, to place on my bedspread that day. I carefully laid the thimble along side the others I've collected over the years, where I could continue to see the gift God chose to reveal to me.

What a precious memory of a very special lady who somehow, I knew, was laughing in delight at sewing her thimble inside my pillow.

I heated the tea kettle and made some tea, using my best china, as Grandma always did, and enjoyed my tea and Grandma's thimble. What a wonderful birthday that was!

About the Author

Diane is a former newspaper reporter and freelance writer. She and her husband Stephen are the parents of three grown children, and two grand-gals. They make their home on the South Carolina Coast where Diane continues her love for writing. Her new book BEACH WALKS, a collection of short stories, which includes the one above, has just been released. For more information visit www.DianeDeanWhite.com

For more Family Remembrance features visit our Index.