Knitting by Blind Faith

When my family was visiting, they brought me a very special gift from my grandmother. It was a blue topaz and diamond pendant.

This pendant belonged to my great grandmother and was given to her by my great grandfather on their 56th wedding anniversary.

My great grandmother was born in March. My great grandfather wanted to get her a pendant with the March birthstone, aquamarine, and enlisted the help of my grandparents. When they couldn’t find the aquamarine, they chose the blue topaz as an alternate.

My great grandmother went to be with the Lord on her birthday, march 2, 1991. She left instructions that the pendant should be given to my grandmother, since my grandmother was instrumental in picking out the gift a few years before. Since I am the first great grandchild and share my great grandmothers birth month besides, my grandmother thought I should have this beautiful keepsake. It was packaged in the original felt bag along with a note in my great grandmother’s own hand.

I never saw my great grandmother knit, but I know she quilted and sewed. When cabbage patch dolls were all the rage, she made homemade cabbage patch look-alikes for all us girls. We really treasured those dolls.

I think of my great grandmother with fondness. Some of my favorite memories are of spending time with her, my great grandfather, and our family out on their pontoon boat. My great grandmother was the one who taught me how to cast a fishing line, and I was the only little girl not afraid to touch the minows, or the fish. The fish fries that inevitably followed a day of fishing on their quiet lake yielded the best tasting fish I ever had.