As an 84-year-old McLean grandmother, I have found that some delightful surprises often come straight out of the blue.
When 12 of our 13 grandchildren were born, I knitted each a baby afghan: blue and white ripples for the boys and pink and white for the girls. The only one who didn't get one was our grandson Andrew. That was because when he was born we didn't even know he existed! He came into our lives from an orphanage in Kazakhstan when he was only 3 years old but still too old for a baby blanket. Later on, however, I made up for it by knitting him a cozy, colorful grownup afghan for cold winter nights in Charlottesville.
But when I knitted the afghans for the others, I figured they would only be useful for the first or second years of their lives. I never dreamed any of them would still be using them some 20 years later! It wasn't until I got the photograph below that I learned that our beloved granddaughter Rachel, now 21 and a college senior at James Madison University, still cherishes hers. Not only that, but it turns out she has been sleeping with it every night for all these years! What a lovely surprise! Sad to say, however, it looks less like an afghan now and more like a raggedy wreck!
So now I am happily in the process of knitting her a replacement with colors she chose herself: purple (one of James Madison's colors) along with pink and blue ripples. However I am well aware that a new one can never really take the place of her original. But even knowing it will always be second best is still pretty wonderful!