Today I said goodbye to my mother’s sewing machine. It has been sitting unused in my basement since she died 14 years ago because I miss her and love her. I finally could part with it today because it’s going to a new immigrant family and I feel so good about that. You see, my mom was an immigrant to the US 59 years ago and I think that maybe her best and oldest friend was a sewing machine. Not this one — this was the fancy one she bought 6 months before she died. My comfort and my wish is that it provides moments of ease and creativity to its new owner.

Aside from the clothes she made over the years, my mother’s true talent was performing jazz with fabric. Her combinations of color and texture are still amazing and overrode her desire for perfect seams or straight lines.

When I do this decluttering work with people I say that I understand that it is hard. It is and I am feeling it right now. It’s as if I am saying goodbye all over again. I saved her notion box and the small items that I know she touched.  I have many pieces that she made and fabric that she loved. But it was time for the machine to move on. It just was. It’s not meant for a basement. It’s meant for curtains, clothes, and quilts. It’s meant for a new life in a new land. Amen.