Evelyn's Birthday

A button popped off one of Anwyl's shirts recently, a flannel number with quilted lining that used to be one of Gene's. He's perfectly capable of sewing it back on, but I offered to do it because, well, I'm perfectly capable of plunging the toilets but he usually takes care of it. In the course of getting the needle and thread, I hauled out Mom's button box and got sidetracked into sorting the buttons into piles of the same color. It was a surprisingly pleasant activity -- completely unnecessary in a practical sense, but a few quiet moments just hanging out with Mom's memory. There was one yellow button out of hundreds, and no orange. I was surprised that, after white -- far and away the most common color--the  two most common button colors were red and green. I remember her as usually wearing blue or brown, but I guess after a certain point she didn't sew for herself very much. In the course of her lifetime, buttons went from being something you saved to use again and again to mass-manufactured abundance, and sewing went from being a necessary economic contribution to your family to something that a store could provide much cheaper and faster than you could ever do it.  Those are not her exact words, but she said something to that effect when I was grown-up and asked her about why she was sewing less. Her answer surprised me -- I guess I thoughtlessly assumed she sewed clothes because she enjoyed it. It makes me wonder what other things she would have done differently if she'd had the opportunity. But she found a lot to enjoy in life despite the limitations of her circumstances, and I think that was a great gift to all of us.