Am I the Only One… Who Struggles to Sew on a Button?

By:  Donna Hale Chandler

I tried to be a good mother. I truly did. I tried to be involved in my children’s activities. I’m not particularly skilled in the kitchen but I’d burn those cookies and send them off to school. I’m just not very ‘domestic.’ My son and daughter, now adults, survived but it was probably touch and go there at times.

Growing up I had one very well-mannered younger sister, so when our first child, our SON came along, I wasn’t prepared for that ball of energy who was into anything and everything. There came a glorious day when he asked if he could join the Cub Scouts. I thought this was a fabulous idea. Nice, supervised activities that would teach him lessons while burning some of his ever-present energy.

Cub Scouts were great. He loved working toward a ‘patch’. I was so proud of him when he was awarded the first patch. But there was a problem. That little patch needed to be fastened to his shirt. A seamstress I am NOT and I really didn’t believe that a safety pin would be acceptable. So I sucked it up, went to the store to try to buy a needle and some thread. The cashier at Joann Fabrics probably is still talking about the woman who tried to purchase ONE needle. (Did you know that needles are sold in a package containing several?)

Finally, back home I went with my important purchase. I sat down with the Cub Scout shirt, my new needle and a spool of navy thread. I tried to keep my stitches small so they wouldn’t be so visible. I tried to not pull the thread too tight so the material wouldn’t pucker. I tried to do everything right. When I was all finished and held up the shirt for inspection, THE PATCH WAS CROOKED.

I had to pick those itty bitty stitches out and start all over again ………………. TWICE! By the time I was finished I felt like I had sewn a complete wardrobe. But, when we went to the next Cub Scout meeting, his patch was firmly attached in the right place. It wasn’t crooked. It wasn’t puckered. I was almost as pleased with myself for sewing the patch as I was of him for earning the patch.

As I was sitting there with the other mothers watching the ‘cubs’ go about the business of working toward yet another patch, the woman next to mean leaned over and said, “Isn’t it wonderful that they’re making iron-on patches now. I just hated sewing those on for my oldest son.”

Wait! What did she just say? When I turned to look at her she must have been able to read the disbelief in my face because she repeated herself, “I said, aren’t the iron-on patches great?”

I tried to smile and said, “Yes, they sure are.”

(The complete story can be found in Life Happens (My Story). See our Book page.)

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Gram use’ta say

“Misbehavior is sufficient justification
to have a knot jerked in your tail.”

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