Saturday, September 11, 2010

Chocolate and Church Ladies

The quilting queens of Coker Creek are meeting this morning, and I plan to be there. I usually wear rather thin rather quickly on church ladies because I blurt out things that they don't even want to think about, much less hear about. Sometimes I can even upset people without saying a thing; they can see in my eyes what I'm thinking.

My mission today is to get the stories of these wonderful women who gather monthly to make quilts for critically ill kids. Their project du jour is to create a quilt with the University of Tennessee Team symbol for auction at the Coker Creek Autumn Gold Festival. This will help them raise funds to make more quilts.

I'll take along my camera to catch them in their acts of kindness; then we can create a story board for their booth at the fest. Jack and I plan to share booth space with them, if we're allowed to do so. What a wonderful way to multitask, helping Jack promote his book while helping the ladies cuddle these kids. Come to think of it, maybe Jack could go read to the hospitalized children, helping their spirits soar while their bodies are being healed.

Chocolate is purported to soothe the savage soul. I would eat some to see if it would soothe me, but I'm on Atkins, so I'll have to do the next best thing. I hear that even church ladies indulge in the sinful richness of chocolate. I figure if I soothe their souls with some chocolate, they may be less prone to being upset with what I say or what they see in me. And one can't get much more chocolaty than death-by-chocolate cookies.

If the quilting queens of Coker Creek can't retain their calm with me after they taste our death-by-chocolate cookies, I'll just have to give up the ghost.