Use Your Words: Pattern Stories #4

Today’s post is a writing challenge created by Karen @ Baking in A Tornado. This is how it works: 12 participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words or short phrases for someone else to craft into a post. All words must be used at least once and all the posts will be unique as each writer has received their own set of words. That’s the challenge, but there's a fun twist; no one who’s participating knows who received their words or in what direction the writer will take them. Until now.

At the end of this post you’ll find links to the other blogs featured in this challenge. Check them all out, see what words they were given and how they used them. 

My words are: 

hold off ~ particular ~ learning ~ incredible ~ object ~ unable

They were submitted by: the lovely and talented Karen@ Baking in a Tornado 

Pattern Stories #4

                                     Photo Property of Butterick Pattern Service, 1972

"I knew I loved Jeanie the first time I laid eyes on her.  She was working behind a Woolworth's soda fountain, serving at least 12 people at once without missing a beat. I remember the shop being packed, because everyone was celebrating our school's basketball championship win. I would love to say I was part of the celebration, but I'm unable to. It simply wasn't true. I was instead alone, trying to hide in a corner. 

While everyone was adorned in our school's colors, I was dressed head-to-toe in a ridiculous denim outfit. My mother, who sewed for a living, begged me to wear the clothing she made for a sewing expo that had come to our town. She was learning all kinds of new embroidery patterns and wanted to try them out; all at once. I felt ridiculous. I was trying to hold-off from being seen by hiding behind a plastic menu. That's when I first felt Jeanie's hand on my shoulder. I'm not sure if she wanted to laugh at me for the way I looked among the room of "cool-kids", but she didn't. She simply smiled. It was the most incredible smile I'd ever seen. 

I'd come to see her everyday after that; wearing my normal clothes, of course. I'd constantly order food so she wouldn't get into trouble. We'd talk about everything and nothing in particular on her breaks. She'd smile at me like I was the only one in the place. One night as she was getting off of work, she had asked me if I'd wait for her. I recall that it seemed like she was in the back for a really long time. Just as I was about to see if she was okay, Jeanie emerged from the room wearing a long raincoat and her infamous smile. 

Now, I know what today's kids would think was under that raincoat. My mind never went there. Still, when she unbuttoned it and revealed what was underneath, I couldn't believe it. My Jeanie stood there, an object of perfection, wearing a matching denim outfit to the one I was wearing when we first met. I can't tell you the laugh we had over it. And, yes. I call her "My Jeanie" because that's what she was from that day forward.

If I close my eyes now and stay very still, I can smell the sweet honeysuckle from her golden hair. The scent always hung in the air each time she'd move. I still try to take it all in; the sight of her, the smell... The way she'd hold her small hands over her mouth if she thought she was laughing too hard. I never tire thinking about her...about us."

-Jeff Gunderson, CEO of Embroidery Empires, speaking about his wife of 40 years.

Love- even when you look silly doing it, friends. :)

-Michele

Check out all the cool kids participating this week:

Baking in a Tornado                             

Spatulas on Parade                          

Stacy Sews and Schools                      

Follow Me Home                   

Battered Hope                            

Someone Else's Genius                   

The Bergham's Life Chronicles              

Eileen's Perpetually Busy         

Confessions of a part-time working mom             

Evil Joy Speaks              

Crumpets and Bollocks                        

Sparkly Poetic Weirdo