COMFORT

Sometime this week the quilt which I photographed today will be delivered to Kyra Phillips in Atlanta, Georgia.  It was designed and made by a group of women at First United Methodist Church in San Diego to give comfort to Kyra.  You may know, or may recognize Kyra even if you don’t know her as the not-so-long-ago morning Anchor for CNN and now a special reporter, that she is a surviving daughter of my friend Ben Christensen. Ben died a few weeks ago on a nature trail he was helping clean and clear in Yachts, Oregon.  He is a friend whom I don’t intend to let disappear, so when I heard that the women of the church in Mission Valley had made a quilt for Kyra to comfort her, I went right over to get a picture.  Wow!  I like it. It will definitely comfort Kyra and her husband and their twins.  It’s not meant to be a substitute for her father, but it will be a reminder that the man was loved by his family and by his community; and it is a fitting symbol of the special brand of love he extended toward his family and his friends. 

I couldn’t resist making a reverse image, just for the heck of it… to see what would happen to the colors in the quilt which are said to be Kyra’s favorites.  Wow!  The hearts in the design are still there; which is appropriate because Ben loved people indiscriminately.  I miss him, but I won’t forget him.

Oh, a couple more things are appropriate to say:  The quilt which normally would have been made for Ben's wife Kathee, was made for the daughter instead because that's what Kathee wanted to happen.  I thought how like Ben himself Kathee has always been... always thinking of others.  Those hearts in the quilt even if they were green are altogether appropriate.

Also, if I were having coffee with Ben at our favorite coffee shop this week, I'd enjoy telling him about four-year-old Jada who begins Pre-Kindergarten this week. When her father Kenton asked her what was most special about starting to school for the first time, she said, "I'll get to have my own backpack."  Ben, who knew Jada and her older sister and her parents, would like the story... and understand the significance of it.