Hearts
These hearts began during COVID, when my hands needed something to do and my mind needed somewhere to wander.
One day I asked my mom if she thought about a particular person while she quilted. Her answer stayed with me, and I began wondering how I might do the same with my own work.
Over time, these hearts became something more.
They became a way of recognizing the goodness in another person, sometimes before they could see it for themselves.
Each one begins with the same invitation:
This heart is for you...
Some have already found their homes. Others are available. New hearts are added when they are ready.
The Pink Garden Heart
This heart is for you if you believe in slow walks through the garden, soft earth beneath your feet, quiet voices, and the scent of roses.
This heart says,
Come. Let's go for a walk and talk about our dreams.
You are a gift in a hard world.
You are the softness of warm soil.
Your expectations are simple–pure love and loyalty.
You receive both because you give them so freely.
Your gentleness comes from wisdom
Your care from the depths.
You aren’t naive.
Just true.
The School Heart
This heart is for you if you buy your school supplies on the very first day, you lay out your outfit and you still have a lunch box. You love school and all the things that point to a new year.
This heart says,
Come, let’s meet the new kids.
Whether you are a student or more likely the teacher, you delight in opening a book for the very first time.
You love the days when you could write your name on the front of a notebook and a brand new box of crayons has not a look but a smell that you revel in.
You believe in first days. New friends and second chances.
You are both nurturer and the one with the highest expectations.
The yellow color of the bus is your second favorite yellow after that of the pencil.
You have a favorite pen, a favorite sweater, and a favorite path back to class.
You are the hope of the new year and the sage we all need.
Herd Heart
This heart is for you if you know the meaning of the herd. You have long believed that we are better together. Circling around in times of joy and pain.
This heart says,
Hi, how have you been?
You are the gold of the friendship.
Long standing, abiding, becoming.
Your loyalty is your lead.
Your love the home we all long for.
You are gentle and caring, you know when to step back and when to make more room.
You, friend, remain.
Changing Heart
This heart is for you if you if you once decorated your home or your classroom or your heart with everything Mary Engelbreit.
This heart says,
Bold always meant change.
You played your role, you did the job, chores and car pool, baked goods and PTA.
You came home and tidied up, you showed up for friends, for teachers, for the children.
Along the way you may have forgotten the joy but the bold, bright colors always brought it back.
This heart says it has always been in you.
This next season might just be the brightest.
The Gathering Heart
This heart is for you if gratitude is your go-to calming device.
This heart brings blue skies and sunshine, a life filled with flowers.
A heart that remembers the warmth on your skin even after the moon has risen.
This heart remembers gatherings and events punctuated by laughter and family.
This heart reminds you to hear their little voices in the grown humans they have become.
This heart reminds you: this is the day we will have love.
Purple Garden Heart
This heart is for you if you feel stitched together.
Beautiful and broken.
It is for the parts of you barely holding on, and the other bits that keep growing anyway, unexpectedly, like the hairs on your chin.
You have loved and lost. You have won. Your friendships, your lovers, your many selves are all chained together, creating the you we see today.
You are soft with an edge. A worker. Someone who keeps going, accomplishing what you can, until it is time to rest.
This heart says: look, the flowers are blooming.
You have done your job.
Each heart is one of a kind. If one feels like yours, let’s talk.