How Crafting Can Save Your Life

Let's just say, for argument's sake, that Monday evening all your girls were happily playing--well, okay, not killing each other....yet. Let's say they were sitting at the dining table playing with play-doh. And let's get really crazy and say that your oldest daughter Spudly just happened to think it was a good idea to push the table very hard...and the table moved....and it knocked over a chair.

And let's pretend for a moment that your youngest daughter Stinkerbell was sitting in said chair and it flipped over backwards and she hit her head. And there was much shrieking and frantic parents and intense wailing and crying--although we did manage to get Head Honcho to hush after a few minutes. And then Stinkerbell went into her worst asthma attack yet. So there was more shrieking--okay, and just maybe it was me who was doing the shrieking because I was holding the baby who was in full asthma attack and Head Honcho was taking as long as humanly possible to get the nebulizer and meds. And then finally the attack stopped, the baby slept and life looked sort of normal again.

So the next morning you got up early and took T-Rex to therapy, leaving Stinkerbell sleeping. And you came home with a heavy heart and one Biggby Teddy Bear Steamer (coffee drink without the coffee) after learning T-Rex is still struggling deeply over issues of abandonment. And you found Stinkerbell crying and clutching her foot and you examined set foot and determined that her big toe was big and blue and swollen and she was in a lot of pain. And let's say, for argument sake, you freaked out, screamed at your husband who had completely missed the symptoms, called the doctor, rushed her to the doctor to learn that said toe was indeed broken and that the complicated, cost you $20 to learn it, involved treatment was to give her motrin and tylenol cause there's nothing they can do for a broken toe. You politely thanked the doctor while thinking "I have got to go to med school and get me some of this easy cash."

You rush home because it's your father's birthday and you are supposed to call him at noon. You allow all the children to screech out a very enthusiastic rendition of Happy Birthday. Then you zip into the kitchen, make a quick lunch, feed the kids, check your emails, and then rush out the door with Stinkerbell because...mind you this is all just a hypothetical situation...she's got a doctor's appointment across town.

Now, if you are still following this, you are wondering when the crafting part comes in, right? I'm getting there. I arrive at the audiologist's office with zero minutes to spare. I get Tinkerbell out of her coat and then realize that her hair is a mess. I mean a mess. And I've got no hair brush or hair "things" with me. Nothing to help. And she's getting impressions of her ear canals. This involves goop--the technical and very accurate medical term--being squirted in her ears, allowed to harden and then pulled out. From this the cool ear mold people will make a plastic set of ear molds (out of green plastic this time) to fit in her ears when she wears her purple hearing aids. Purple, green with red and orange fabric covers.

But let us not be distracted by colour combinations. Imagine you sit in the waiting room looking at your daughter's crazy, messy, curly hair and you wonder how they will get the goop in the ears and not the hair.

And then it hits you: in your purse you have your handmade softie. On Sunday you swapped out your Domo doll for your Amigurumi Panda Bear Pearl. And seeing as it was cold Sunday morning you took the time--yes, you really did---while you were already late for church to get her red, hand crocheted scarf. Because you do not want your softie to be cold. I'm serious.

And so you are sitting in the waiting room two days later and you notice the scarf and how it would make a great headband. You ask and are assured by said softie that she does not mind if Stinkerbell borrows said scarf seeing as it is for a very good cause. So, using your hands, you smooth back daughter's hair and tie the scarf around and voila! You are in business. And no one ever says a word. Everyone thinks this is perfectly normal. And the molds are made. The scarf is taken from said daughter before she stuffed it under her car seat, you drive home and life is good...except that your house is trashed and you still have to school your kiddos.

BUT! But...your life has been saved because you craft! And that's the moral of the story.