Erika's World is Hung In Her Room

Our sixth day in Minnesota! Still very very very cold. But they say "warmer" as it was out of the teens and in the low 20's. DH and I took a hike across the street through the snow covered golf course for half an hour. It was very beautiful, and I enjoyed the trees and the sound of the crunching snow under foot, but I walked faster and faster as I got closer back to the house and it's inviting warmth. I am not a snow bird by any stretch of the imagination. It took almost as much time to un-thaw my frozen fingers and toes. In the evening we visited Erika in her "home" and I took her the art quilt to hang there. It was of course, as if she were seeing it for the first time. As I am sure it will be now when she wakes each day and finds it there on the wall in her room. This is in no way the "best" work I have ever done, not the most beautiful or well done, however, the joy that it brings to Erika each time she sees it, explores it, is worth more than a million dollars to me. She knows I made it for her, and she exclaims how beautiful it is to her, how her whole family is in it, and all the things she loves...music, birds, squirrels, nature, etc. I feel like I have given her the crown jewels. I cannot express how much this warms my heart. I have received no better gift in my lifetime than her adoration for this simple piece of cloth. It was a very sweet visit, just the three of us. DH and Erika shared memories of family history. We wrote down birthdays in a notebook for her to help her remember. We reassured her we'd be back tomorrow, two more tomorrows before we have to return to California. Her eyes sparkled knowing she'd see us again soon. We felt less heavy when we left this time.