Coping with the Pandemic - Heidi Proffetty

When our world came to a screeching halt, I naively thought this can’t go on for long. So I decided to tackle a few of those dreaded projects from my To-Do list. We’ve lived in our house for 22 plus years and you can imagine the STUFF we’ve accumulated. So this became my quiet mission for more than two weeks. I cleaned, purged, and organized. I found tears and joy as I went through my daughters’ baby clothes, toys, school papers, and gymnastics photos. Next, my husband (whose business also came to a sudden stop) and I joined forces just like we did 22 years ago when we first built our home together. Each day we started with coffee and conversation and turned our focus to fixing up the outside of our house. We planted 35 small trees, put in our garden, painted the exterior siding and trim, stained the deck, and rebuilt the side stairs. We also installed our new bees into our two beehives. As I look at how nice our home looks again, right down to the pretty flowers in the flower boxes, it makes me smile. My husband and I feel pleased. But we had an even more important job to focus on and that was our kids. Our girls are teenagers and with no school except for virtual classes, no friends, no prom, and no gymnastics, they were feeling the impact. We let their normal routines slide. They slept more during the day and stayed up late at night talking to their friends on social media. We let them find their happiness where they could. If that meant a bowl of cereal in the bedroom or repainting the walls of their bathroom or giving dad a much-needed haircut, we were okay with it. As far as quilting, well, I finally got back in the swing of things. With my teaching jobs canceled, I had free time to play with my embroidery machine. I learned a new digitizing program and created some beautiful designs. I gave my first Facebook Live presentation for Janome Sewing Machines. It was exciting to take part in this opportunity and admittedly it felt great getting dressed up and putting makeup on again. I also completed another in my series of Moroccan mosaic quilts. It took almost five months to finish it, but as I look at it I feel again that sense of happiness and accomplishment. Most recently, I took an 11-hour road trip south with my daughters and two of their friends. We visited a great spot, the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The days were filled with lots of laughs from my kids which made my heart happy and I spent a few days of much-needed relaxation on a long stretch of gorgeous beach. During these trying times, I did not ignore the sadness going on out there but I did turn inward to care for and appreciate my family. I feel very blessed to say my family is my rock and I am theirs. www.HeidiProffetty.com If you can't wait to read the individual stories, you can view SCHMETZ Inspired to SEW #79 by CLICKING HERE.