la de da...

I have this blanket that has been in my possesion since I was about 9 years old. I received it from my grandmother when she bought a new one and knew that I loved it. It is green with a really rough "silk" around the edges. Its quite abrasive against the skin, but that was the reason I loved it so much. (Green was always my grandma's favorite color. I recall being in 1st or 2nd grade and not knowing my favorite color so I chose green to be like my grandma. When I got into junior high I felt silly so I decided I liked orange.....well eventually I realized late in high school that green was my favorite color again, it had been all along. Green is the color of growing things (my hippie philosophy - haha) and perhaps that is why the color holds so much significance to me. Or maybe its just an attempt to hold on to something true that I had when I was young. but back to the blanket.
Originally this blanket fit on a king size bed. It had been a gift to my grandparents when they married. It was quite thin to begin with but as years passed it began to tear. I was offered a new one. No....I never wanted one. I suffered through the "she can keep it as long as she gets rid of it before prom" (well, i never went to prom) and the subsequent "she wont ever take that with her to college" (well when i do enroll im still going to live at home) My sister was frequently either appalled or embarrassed when I drug the old thing with me places. Well, eventually the tears became so large that my mom feared i would strangle myself at night with it wrapped around my neck. I still insisted on keeping it. In an effort to prolong its life I folded it to a quarter of its size and re-stitched the binding around it. Pappaw (my grandfather) began to threaten he would buy me a new one. But there was something about crawling into bed at night and balling up that green mass of worn fabric to tuck under my arm. My grandfather passed away 2 summers ago. I know he teased me about it that summer. I know this could probably boil down to some insecurity issue but it is a piece of my life. When I go home tonight it will be strewn across my pillow, I will go over and pick it up and carry it around with me.

long live childhood memories.