You never know where life will take you.
Eight years ago, I had no idea that I would soon meet the man of my dreams, marry him and any day now be expecting our second baby. You never know.
Five years ago, I never would have thought I would move across the country, twice, and not be teaching. At the time, I couldn’t imagine not being in front of my students, and certainly never thought I’d be writing a blog. You never know.
And just a year ago, I never thought that an afternoon craft project of making myself a pair of mittens (which now that I think about it was kind of silly since at the time I lived in the desert and I don’t think I ever wore mittens there), would turn into such a huge call for sweaters, reaching from coast to coast. You never know.
I have been completely overwhelmed by the outpouring of support I’ve received in this project. I know I’ve thanked all of my friends and family before for cleaning out their closets and sending their sweaters my way, but what has been really amazing to me has been the kindness of strangers.
So many people have offered to help that I have never met…friends of friends, their friends, businesses that have offered to help by giving a donation, girl scout troupes hosting their own sweater drives, churches doing the same, the list goes on and on. It’s amazing, isn’t it, to think that my little project has sparked so much kindness in people? That my little voice has inspired so many to give of themselves without looking for anything in return?
My little voice…it’s fitting that I use that phrase since the most recent person to want to help is Natalie Christie from The Tiny Soprano. My husband actually passed her blog along to me, and when I read her bio, I knew she was the perfect match to my project. Our stories are very similar. We both left our professions to become stay at home moms (although I was a high school math teacher, while she was a well-known opera singer), and even though we both knew staying home was what we wanted to do, that we could never imagine a life different from being a mom and spending every day with our children, there was something out there for us still to do. We both found our voice through blogs. Where my posts usually focus on crafting, with a touch of personal life thrown in here and there, Natalie challenges you to make small, “tiny,” changes to your personal life that can have a huge impact on you and those around you. Natalie will be featuring my little mitten drive this week, but even before then, please look around on her blog. If you’re anything like me, and always striving to live every moment to its fullest, and pass that energy along to all that you can, you’ll be happy you did. Oh, and we’re both expecting little ones very soon!
Which brings me to my next topic. The baby is apparently coming any day now. (Of course, I was told that last week, and he or she is still quite content right where they are.) I hope this is not my “see you on the other side of having two kids” post, but if it is, I just wanted to thank all of you out there that have sent your best wishes, thoughts, and congratulations my way. Again, the kindness of strangers is awe-inspiring. I may not be writing as much for the first few weeks after the little one is here, but I will be posting as often as I can to my Facebook page and on Twitter. My thinking is that I can at least pass on projects that I find, but not feel the pressure to write full posts on them. I hope you’ll follow me there, and I also promise to pass along word whenever the baby decides to gets here. That’s the thing with babies…you just never know.
Enjoy,
Nikki, In Stitches
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Nikki:
I will be following on Facebook! I am going to take some sweaters into work tomorrow to give to Jen – maybe she can bring them to you when she visits! Sorry I could not get them to you sooner….Take care!