My husband and I are both RNs, living in the Los Angeles area. Needless to say the past year has been a tough one in our profession and also in the area in which we live, along with the hardships, grief and sorrow throughout the world which the pandemic has brought. While we both work in areas that most lay people would think as non-traditional (I work in overseeing the care of a group of retired priests and religious brothers at a home that their religious order has set up for the retired clergy. My husband works in the Quality Dept for a large healthcare system), the past 18 months have still been very stressful. All of the residents where I work were all at high risk for serious illness should they contract COVID, and keeping them safe was a real challenge, especially since all but 1 of the staff besides myself contracted COVID during the last year. My husband had to take on extra duties to support the nursing units in addition to doing his regular work, and between Dec 2020 through Feb 2021 he was also having to work a couple of evening shifts in the ICU (COVID unit) every week on top of his regular job. He would come home telling me that 3 of 4 of his patients died each night. We finally knew that perhaps some let up was beginning a few weeks after vaccinations started, when it dropped to 1 or 2 per night.
I found that amongst all the stress & hardest we've ever worked during our 35+ careers, that it was extremely important to do something that brought me even a little bit of joy at least several times a week, and to take time for my self at least weekly, in order to develop the resilience to keep going. One of the biggest ways I was able to do this, was through the joy I find in watching my needle and thread move a blank canvas into something beautiful before my eyes.
I started the attached picture in Feb 2020, and finished it in Sept 2020. It was my first attempt in working in linen (usually work in Aida). After about 3weeks or so, I got used to the linen (chasel linen from ECS) and it became a true joy as I watched my canvas come to life!! Tulips have always been my favorite flower, and I took to calling this project (and still do!) my "COVID Tulips". To me, it helped to save my mental health, and heal the heartbreak from the devastation this pandemic has worked on our community, country, world, and my profession.
While not framed yet (LA is just opening up to allow the shopping/matting trip needed to fully complete this project) I still dedicate this work to the thousands of healthcare workers globally, who lost their lives in this pandemic (over 3600 in the USA alone), and who will no longer be able to stop and smell the flowers in this life. But I think despite the grief that comes, I can still find joy in my needle and thread, and am grateful & feel blessed that my family can still enjoy flowers and life! I hope the same is true for you readers and stitchers----may your work bring you the joy I have felt from this and another project I finished during t1he past 18 months. There is still beauty to be found! May you all be safe and appreciate life.
