A New Beginning: My Journey with Addy

I turn back toward the quilting table, and Mrs. Walker sees me and catches the look on my face. She asks what’s wrong. I hand her my square and admit it’s a disaster.

Mrs. Walker studies the wrinkled mess, then me, and asks if this is the first time I’ve sewn a quilt square. I nod, shy to admit it. Gently, she asks how I can expect it to be perfect the first time. All I need is practice. She hands it back. I explain I don’t want my sloppy square to ruin the whole quilt. It won’t fetch much money.

Mrs. Walker says I shouldn’t worry about that. Everybody knows this quilt tells the story of the people who made it, about their journey to freedom. Getting here wasn’t perfect either. We’re here, and that’s what matters, and that’s what people will see in this quilt.

Addy comes back, greeting her momma happily before turning to me and asking if I’m finished already. I admit I was actually about to give up. She looks at my square, and when she asks if I really want to quit, I say no and ask for her help instead. She agrees brightly, and Mrs. Walker smiles, squeezes my shoulder, and heads to the quilting frame.

Addy and I sit down together, and she tells me we’ll pick it all out and start over, showing me how to pull the thread from the back of my square to remove the crooked flower, then handing it back.

She explains, watching me work slowly to untangle my mess, that when she and Momma came to Philadelphia, they had to start over too. Just about everyone in this room had to pull up their roots and start fresh here in freedom, and that’s kind of like pulling out threads and starting over.

I never thought of it that way. If Addy’s family, and all these people around us, can start fresh, then I can too, on my quilt square and on my attitude with my own family.

After about an hour, Addy is nearly finished with her square. I only have three of my five petals sewn down, but I’m proud of what I’ve done, and so is Addy. We decide to put our squares in Momma’s bag so we can finish at home and bring them back tomorrow.

We find Addy’s mother in a corner of the hall, where men and women are fitting long pieces of wood into a big frame. Addy explains that it’s the quilt frame. Once all the squares are pieced together, it gets stretched over the frame with the lining, then everyone stitches through the layers to join the top and bottom. That’s quilting.

All the little squares fit together into one big square, I say, kind of like each of these people, coming from different places to help out at the benefit.

Addy agrees, telling me nobody can do this all by themselves. Everybody works together to help one another. Reverend Drake calls that community.

I think about how my own parents and grandparents work together for our family, and I want to be a stronger part of that community when I go home. I’ll do a better job studying, finishing my chores, and being patient while our family is apart. Being with Addy has taught me how.