Happiness is Having Grandchildren to Love

Five years ago I ambitiously started the largest cross-stitch I have ever done, intending to give it to my paternal grandparents. Mum had made a similar one for her parents a few years before, we thought it might be nice for both sets of grandparents to have one.

The cross-stitch design has an apple tree with the names and year-of-birth of all the grandchildren hanging off it. My grandparents have one grandchild who is not a part of my immediate family, so all the names only just fit into the 15 spaces provided.

I started with a zest, then quickly experienced burn-out (which is quite typical for me where cross-stitch is concerned), and condemned it to the bottom of a craft bag for a few years, occasionally bringing it out to do a few stitches before putting it away again.

But then early last year Grandad was diagnosed with prostate cancer and given a maximum of five years to live. I decided that the cross-stitch should be brought out again and given (in particular) to him before too much time went by. It still took me a while to finish it as I started uni and found that I had increasingly less and less time on my hands. But when my Aunt started making plans for her wedding, and my grandfather was becoming increasingly sick, I made a specific date to have it finished by the wedding.


Last night (two days before we travel up to the Gold Coast for the nuptial celebrations) I finished the last stitches. I hope my grandfather is touched by it and can find some comfort in the knowledge that he has always been loving .....and to be that is a life well lived.