Heartfelt...

I must have been struck by Cupid's bow recently, as I've been a bit on heart kick.

A couple of weeks ago I made two different hearts out of the same Granny Sweetheart pattern:

First a hotpad sized heart:

Made out of Lily's Sugar 'n Cream yarns and crocheted with extra rows.

And then a sweet little coaster-sized heart from the same pattern:

Crocheted from Patons Grace sport weight cotton yarn.

And this week I finished this small Heart's Desire doily out of Omega Sinfonia sport-weight cotton:

I love how the hearts are a little bit funky in this doily. :)   Elongated and tilted, they're practically dancing - and they make me smile.  I kind of wish I'd made it in a bolder, or a non-traditional color, but even in a too-sweet pink, it says "fun" to me.  

~~~~~

Last night we celebrated middle son's 25th birthday.  A quarter of a century ago he was born!!!  How do my three sons just keep getting older while I still feel like their 30-40 something year-old Momma. Okay...  of course my body doesn't feel like I'm still in my 30's (or 40's), but in my heart it feels like just yesterday I was that young, and in my mind I can be there in a second.   ;^)

Which reminds me... this past week I had a sweet conversation with a friend (who's a bit older than me).  We talked about how our bodies age (and we certainly feel it), but in our hearts, we just don't feel ourselves aging.  It's an interesting phenomenon that some of you younger readers may not recognize yet (or surely don't recognize as profoundly as you will when older).  I imagine I don't yet feel it the way, say, an 80 year-old does.    But I suspect this happens to everyone who lives long enough to feel their body aging.  It's both a sweet and hard thing thing to feel younger in spirit than one's physical years.

Our bodies sometimes age us out of certain activities or fashions, sometimes language even, but our hearts still embrace these things (even if only in our memories - even if we laugh at ourselves remembering go-go boots and mini skirts, or granny glasses and bell bottoms ).  I smiled when my friend referred to something "cool".  I still say things are "cool", or sometimes "neat".   I can't help myself.  It just comes out.  I wonder, sometimes, if my youngers hear this and think that's just too weird, or does my generation, and the one before, satisfactorily own the lingo?  Will I still be using words like "cool" or "neat" when I'm 85?  If I get there, I sure hope so!  ;^)
    

I want to live young at heart.  Not in a cliche sort of way - always looking for fun, or being silly or always laughing.  Not that a happy spirit isn't desirable and something to strive for.  But I'm talking about having a freshness and openness of spirit that youth often provides.  An openness to the future, and to change.   A wonder about people.  A delight and vulnerability in giving and receiving love.   I don't know exactly what this should look like (since I don't know how my future will play out), but I'd like a young-heartedness to be a hallmark of my life as I  "age on".   I'll have to check back in on this in another 10 years or so and see how I'm doing...   ;^)

But today, as we approach Valentines' Day, I wish for big, fearless and, if possible, happy hearts for all of us.

 



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