Mother's Gold Scissors

Do you believe that holding something that belonged to a loved one can bring about their strong spiritual presence?

My precious mother died October 20, 1966, but when I found her gold sewing scissors in a box at my dad's house the other day and put it in my hand I felt her there. She was next to me as surely as she was when I was 14 and learning to sew. The scissors is heavy and solid in my hand with steel blades riveted onto polished gold handles. It’s been almost 40 years since I’ve seen it, but it’s still sharp. Just like my memories of her.

“This is a very special and expensive scissors,” she said as we began to craft a turquoise dress together for the Waupaca County Fair. “It can only be used for cutting cloth. It will keep sharp that way…….And please, don’t drop it. The blades will stay tight together that way.”
It was a great privilege to be allowed to use Mother’s scissors. A kind of rite of passage. We spread the fabric out on our oak dining table and fixed the pattern pieces to it according to the directions. Not too close together, so I would have some room for error if I couldn’t negotiate the corners. Then I was given the scissors and the go ahead to begin cutting.

She smiled proudly and said, “Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. We all have to begin somewhere and you will learn every time you make something.”

The dress turned out just fine and I think I got a second place ribbon at the fair. I used that scissors for many years until I married in ’67 and left home. I always placed it reverently back into its place in the sewing machine cabinet and NEVER used it on anything but fabric. Now, today, I claim it as one of my fondest memories of time spent with my mother.

There were many “firsts” we undertook together and many I have undertaken since, many with glowing results – blue ribbon stuff. My two daughters and three sons are my pride and joy and a project their Grandmother would have loved to help me with. However, I approached that challenge alone with her words in mind. “Don’t be afraid. You have to begin somewhere. You will learn….”