Drapery Dramas

     

     On Wednesday’s blog post, I showed you the before, during and after pictures of our living room paint job. You may have noticed that the curtains hadn’t been hung yet. I had to wait for a sunny, warm day to throw them in my washing machine and then hang them on the line to dry. It took me forever to iron them after that. They are hanging back up over the picture window and the patio door now, so that’s all I’m gonna say about that. But there’s a better story to tell.

In the spring of 1999, when we were remodeling our house and my sister Pat was dying from her cancer, Mom and I took a break from our vigil at the nursing home to pick up fabric for those curtains. Mom was an amazing seamstress. Sewing lined drapes was nothing for her.

She didn't get right on them, for whatever reason, so it took most of the summer to get them done. She sat in my living room one day working on them while the neighbor boy was in the backyard in a bathrobe on top of our kid’s fort in the backyard eating our trail mix out of an ice cream bucket. Mom got the biggest kick out of him that day.

She had taken the curtains home to finish them and brought them back one night at dusk. About a mile from our house, she hit a deer. This was before cellphones, so I can’t remember if she walked to someone’s house or if someone gave her a ride. But somehow, she called us and we went to pick her up. Our curtains were rolled up in a sheet, and she was mostly concerned that we moved them into our vehicle before the police arrived.

Really, Mom? Yes, that bundle did resemble a body when we lifted it into our backseat, but I really doubt anyone would have been suspicious.

These curtains already reminded me of my sister, thinking of her laying in that nursing home bed while we were out shopping for the fabric. But now that Mom's gone too, I think of her also every time I look past the drapes and out my window.