Re-posted from a forum I'm a part of.
I feel a little guilty giving away the blanket my mother made me. When I was a college during my freshman year, my mother made me a rather
hideous crochet blanket. It was one of the few bright spots of color in
a drab dorm room and a little touch of home that came with me. It was
also incredibly useful because the heating for those dorm rooms was
terrible in the winter sessions.
Back in May, my friends had their home burn down. Just today, I sent a
care package over to them. In it was the set of pots we were given as a
wedding present and never used, an electric grill that was a Christmas
gift that never even got opened, and several other things. For the most
part, I didn't feel anything about giving these things away.
It was the blanket, however, that stings a little bit. now, we've got a
lot of blankets. I kinda collect them. It started out because I get
cold easier then most people and then it turned into an honest to god
collection. I've got blankets and
quilts from various people, including my great-grandmother, my
great-aunt, and my aunt's late wife. We've even got a blanket that I made
for my husband for Christmas last year. (I know he loves it because
when i get chilly that's the first one he gets to cover me up with!) So, I had plenty of blankets.
My friends... they lost functionally everything. Sure, a few items
survived the fire, but not much. I looked around and after
discussing it with my husband, picked out items that we didn't ever use and
could actually help them. I wasn't thinking much of it until I looked
at my blanket collection. Some of these blankets have alot of meaning
for me and giving them away would just crush me. I may be a wimp for
it, but I just couldn't give away one of my quilts. (I gave them that
huge comforter we had kicking around instead, which apparently is fine
because they prefer those things.)
As much as Rose insisted that they didn't need a blanket, I knew that
she was trying to limit some of the stuff they were given. When I spoke
to Nate, I could hear in his voice that they had the bare essentials
for their linens. So, a few good blankets was a must in my mind. One
blanket was a moderately warm thing that I got at college for a few
bucks. It was going to be embroidered with roses at one point. I never
even did start that project. I didn't think anything of giving that one
away.
But...
I know that winter comes, they'll be needing a good warm blanket. The
blanket that would break my heart the least to give away was the ugly
thing that I brought with me to college. Now, it may sound funny, but
in good conscience, I couldn't not give them a warm blanket when I had
so many. I just sat there and looked at the situation and said to
myself, "If I were them, how would I feel if my friend that had extra
warm blankets kept them when I needed one?"
I'll kid you not, I felt a chill down my spine at that idea. So, I
threw that ugly blanket on the pile of things for them. You see, I
couldn't say no because in my mind, I saw their need and said that if I
needed like that, it would hurt if someone who could give was stingy
about it just because they wanted to keep a thing.
I don't know if it's weakness on my part that I can almost feel that
pain myself when I think about it or not. I don't know if it's a
weakness on my part because I feel a bit hurt because I gave away the
blanket that my mom made for me.
I do know, however, that I did the right thing.