Twenty years ago this week, in a world quite different from the one we inhabit now, my first book was published.
The title, Mitten Strings for God, was inspired by my son Jack, the rambunctious one in the family. Jack at five didn’t walk into a room, he slid or leapt or ran; he didn’t sit in chairs, he draped or clambered, sprawled sideways or hung upside down. He was a boy on the move. And I was his earnest, exhausted mother.
One snowy day, as I sat crocheting mitten strings for all the boys’ surviving pairs, Jack was snuggled in close to me on the couch, finger-knitting his way through a lumpy ball of blue yarn. It was a rare oasis of stillness amidst the daily turbulence. We sat in silence for a while, doing our work. And then he looked up at me and said simply, “This is peace, isn’t it? I love this peace.”
Those innocent words filled my heart. They also gave me pause. Could it be that my son was in constant motion because I was in constant motion, too? Perhaps he needed a daily time-out as much as I did. And what if my real job as his mother wasn’t to rush him through the day, prodding and cajoling, trying to get to all the places we needed to go and to do all the things that needed doing, but rather to figure out a way to stay put and to do less?
As I finished my project, I asked Jack to show me his. He’d been sitting there, intent on his knitting, for over an hour. He held his creation aloft for me to see, all ten feet of it, and announced, “I made a mitten string for God.”
Over the last twenty years, we sold a house, bought a house, tore down a house, and built a house. Our two sons grew up, my husband and I grew old, and many possessions were jettisoned along the way. But Jack’s long blue mitten string hangs in my closet still. I see it every day.
That piece of humble handwork, looped on a hook with my necklaces, is a symbol of my own small epiphany on that ordinary, long-ago afternoon. It will forever remind me of the moment I realized that, despite all my efforts to be a good mother, I had my priorities wrong. We could continue to pack our days with activities and then hustle to get through them. Or we could do less, stay home, and enjoy our lives more. We could begin to focus on what really mattered. Each other. The small moments. The little things. The coziness of a book read aloud, the freedom of an empty afternoon, the joy of make believe, the sweet intimacy of candles at the dinner table.
I knew so little then about who our boys would turn out to be or what might lay ahead for any of us. But thank goodness I did realize this: their childhood would be over before I knew it. Our days were fleeting, never to be lived again. If I didn’t slow down and pay attention, my sons would grow into young men and head off into their own lives, and I’d be left looking back, wondering where the time had gone. And so it was that our family life began to change. And I began to write about it.
I wasn’t thinking about any of this last month, as every shop and restaurant in town shut down, as we began washing our hands forty times a day, sanitizing cell phones and door knobs, and figuring out how to keep three adults fed without my typical daily run to the grocery store. There was a lot to learn at first, from meal planning two weeks in advance, to hosting Zoom yoga classes, to online banking, to how to fit a mask under my eyeglasses to keep them from steaming up every time I went outside.
And there was this: the constant, uneasy awareness that we are the lucky ones.
Tucked away here, in a house where three of us can shelter in place without ever getting in each other’s way, it feels important to keep sight of the horrific truths of the pandemic’s real toll. While we were lamenting the end of our comfortable routines and the cancellation of spring travel plans, millions of Americans were losing their jobs, their savings, their loved ones, their health, their lives. While our son Henry teaches his college classes remotely from his old bedroom upstairs, hundreds of thousands of others have no choice but to jam onto crowded subways and buses, risking their health in order to get to jobs they need in order to survive. While my husband pays the rent on his empty office and spends a few hours a day there shifting some of his dormant business to online sales, countless other small businesses are ruined for good, as years of hope and investment and effort vanish into debt, uncertainty, and loss. While my safely quarantined parents get the hang of joining us for dinner on Zoom, millions of our most vulnerable citizens are isolated behind closed doors in nursing homes desperately trying to keep their residents alive. And while I’m rummaging through the basement freezer for a package of chicken thighs, food pantries from coast to coast are overwhelmed by demands they have no hope of meeting. The photo yesterday of ten thousand cars lined up in San Antonio, with people waiting for hours for emergency food supplies, haunts me and fills me with a sense of helplessness, even as we send money every week to our own local chapter of End 68 Hours of Hunger.
It is one thing to linger at the breakfast table reading the grim news, trying to comprehend the staggering reality of nearly forty thousand Americans dead, three hundred million under stay-at-home orders, twenty-two million filing for unemployment. Not to mention the desperation, fear, suffering, and gross federal incompetence that underlie those terrible numbers. It’s quite another to experience that horror and grief first hand. I don’t personally know anyone who’s died. I’ve not been required to risk my own life. I won’t lose my home. And yet, even so, I dream dark, disturbing scenarios of infection and distress. My heart feels heavy, tender, as if swollen with some chronic inflammation of sadness that is both mine and not mine to bear.
Sometimes, when I drive through our deserted town and see all the dark and empty storefronts, I find myself wiping away tears. I miss the simple pleasure of strolling into Harlow’s with my husband on the spur of the moment, sitting at a high-top table surrounded by neighbors and friends, sharing nachos and drinking wine. What I’m mourning is not the loss of going out to dinner so much as the loss of life as we all knew it such a short time ago, the loss of community, of gathering, of breaking bread together and catching up in person. The loss of innocence, too, perhaps.
And then, quickly, I brush those tears away and continue on my way, to the little parking lot behind Roy’s Market, where my grocery order will be carefully packed and waiting for me on the loading dock, with my name written in black Sharpie on the paper bag, stapled with my receipt.
Honestly, who am I to cry?
Which brings me to this. I’ve been composing blog posts in my head for weeks. But every time I sit down at my desk, I end up asking myself the same question: Do people like me really need one more self-referential essay about how to have a good day at home, when home is a warm, welcoming place with food in the pantry, toilet paper in the bathroom, and the utility bills paid in full?
And yet, here we are, living our lives. Lives which do ask that we take notice, give thanks, and find some way to give back.
As I type these words my family is in the living room together, Henry reading on the couch and Steve in the big leather chair. (Jack, in Asheville, is still working, still healthy, fingers crossed.) An unseasonably late April snow falls softly. The woodpeckers come and go from the feeder, undaunted. There is fish chowder warming on the stove, a cornbread to make, the evening news to watch once the dishes are done. And in this moment, I’m challenged to somehow hold both the anguish of so many others and, too, to be fully present here, at the end of another quiet, uneventful day. I’m trying to pay attention to what’s right in front of me. And I also feel guilty about all of it.
I remind myself that to have empathy for another’s suffering is human and necessary, an urgent part of our work right now. But that is not to deny the small moments of grace that are also ours to experience. Grief and gratitude intertwined, as is so often the case. There is much to grieve in our battered world, and yet it seems that every poignant reminder of our own mortality is also an invitation to notice how much we usually take for granted, and to become ever more aware of life’s preciousness, its impermanence, its beauty.
It’s been years since I opened Mitten Strings for God. Although I keep a copy on a high shelf in the kitchen, it seems a relic from another era, one in which my sons are frozen in time as the six and nine-year-olds they were when I was writing it. But lately, with so many days strung together at home, I’ve found myself drawn back to the simple rhythms my husband and I so deliberately established when our children were young.
Back then, as we pared back our schedules, commitments, and our children’s activities, we discovered a kind of ease and contentment that had eluded us in the crush of going, doing, and experiencing. Less became more. In that pre-internet era we grew food, played games, read lots of books. Every other week, I made bread.
The other day, with time on my hands, I stood up on the kitchen stool, pulled down Mitten Strings for God, and looked for my old recipe.
What surprised me, as I riffled through the pages, was that I wanted to sit down and read more, as if these reflections written in the midst of mothering and learning to be more mindful, might actually have something to say to my struggling, overly emotional self right now. If I hadn’t glanced at the copyright page, I’d have missed the twenty-year anniversary. April 17, 2000. The fact that I happened to pull the book out on that very day, and that I did notice, feels like a sign of sorts.
And so, on this date that is meaningful only to me, it seems worth remembering that all our work matters, as long as it’s offered with love. Although a cure or a vaccine for the virus remains a distant hope, healing can happen in the here and now. Whether we’re alone in a room pouring our own thoughts onto a page or patiently teaching a child to read, words have the power to draw us closer. Whether we’re logging into an online conference call or phoning an old friend who lives alone or writing a letter by hand, connection erases the space between us. Whether we’re sewing masks at the kitchen table or treating patients in the ER or, as my son Jack is doing now, counseling recovering addicts who are trying to stay sober while their new routines unravel around them, we’re all part of a vast communal effort to help people get better. And whether we’re making yet another pantry dinner for the family, bringing pizza to nurses who haven’t had a decent meal in days, or donating funds to a local food pantry, feeding each other is a way of honoring the sacredness of all life.
We do what we can, from where we are, with what we have.
Baking bread is a small gesture. It’s also a gift that brings a little more warmth to our kitchen and a bit of unexpected cheer to someone else’s day. Although bread recipes abound, I’ve never found one I like more than this, the bread we lived on in simpler times and that I don’t think I’ll ever stop making, now that I’ve discovered it again.
Here’s the recipe from Mitten Strings for God. There’s no kneading required, no sourdough starter necessary, no fuss whatsoever. There will be six loaves, which means you can surprise your neighbors with warm bread and still have some to tuck into the freezer. (We’ve been fortunate to have flour on our grocery store shelves, at least sporadically. I hope you can find some, or at least make a trade.)
And finally, to celebrate the birthday of this small book that has continued to find its own way in the world for all these years, I’m giving away one of my very last hardcover copies of Mitten Strings for God, signed and personalized. Details below.
“Wonder” Bread
Combine in a very large bowl:
4 tablespoons canola oil
4 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons sea salt or Maldon’s salt flakes
Add:
8 cups warm water
2 tablespoons yeast
Stir and wait 5 minutes, until yeast is dissolved.
Stir in:
7 cups organic white flour
6 cups organic whole wheat flour
1 cup organic medium-coarse stoneground cornmeal (I use Bob’s Mills)
2 cups organic rolled oats
When dough is well mixed (I use a big wooden spoon), scoop half of it into another large oiled bowl, cover both bowls with clean dish towels, and let the dough rise until doubled, about 1 ½ hours. Punch the dough down, either with your hands or your big spoon, and let it rise again, about 1 ½ hours. This is a moist, sticky dough. Fear not. Divide the dough into 6 well-buttered pans and allow it one final 1 ½ hour rise, covered with dish towels. Bake the loaves on a middle rack at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes, or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped, rotating the pans midway through the baking to ensure even browning. Tip the cooked loaves onto a rack to cool slightly. And then, while the bread is still warm, slip a few loaves into paper bags and deliver them to your favorite people.
To enter to win a signed copy of Mitten Strings for God
Just leave a comment below. What are you grateful for? Or, what have you learned? Or, what do you miss? Or, what are you grieving? In other words, share a glimpse of what’s true for you right now. (Of course, you can also just say “count me in.”)
I’ll draw a winner at random at 12 pm EST on Friday, May 1.
Want to buy your own copy? I encourage you to do that here, through my beloved local bookstore, The Toadstool, in Peterborough, NH. (This will be a paperback.) I’ll be happy to sign your book before it’s shipped, and they will be happy to mail it to you. Although their doors are closed, The Toadstool is continuing to serve customers. And shipping is FREE. Let’s support our booksellers!
I miss everything …..
Count me in.
Grateful for grand daughters that I can reach out to weekly for virtual story time and silliness… something I recognize we should have been doing all long and finding the time to do so with great love 💕 😌
I am grateful for this time to spend at home. And the technology to still have meaningful connection with family and friends. I am hopeful for a future where we are more thoughtful and kind. Where families sit together for a shared meal and loving connection.
Keeping each other in our hearts. Thank you for your thoughtful writing. It helps feed my soul.
I am so thankful to have our two grown daughters home with us and our family unit together. I’m grieving for my youngest as she finishes her college education from home with no graduation and no closure. Life feels very bittersweet.
I miss hugging people and being with them in good times and now in times of sadness as we lost a dear family friend. Watching a graveside service on Zoom isn’t how I grieve…I am sad for my high school senior who is missing this season of lasts and for myself as I was holding onto the Ordinary Days before this all happened as I knew from reading Katrina’s book how quickly the days were going to go. I miss sitting on the sidelines of a field, cheering on my boys. I have learned I need very little to feel safe and leaving the house is now something that doesn’t feel safe. Thank you for your reflections and words Katrina. They help.
Please Count me in.
I feel so blessed to be counted in your circle of friends here. I’ve counted on your words and wisdom so often over the years since the first time I read Mitten Strings for God twenty years ago. You words have been very impactful in my life. Thank you for you and this community you have created.
Count me in. I am grateful the time to just slow down and reflect about the basic things the matter like food in the fridge, health, family, shelter and faith in A God bigger than my thoughts to keep looking up. I’m a single mom and nurse who sees how much our soul and heart matter more than the outside stuff we tend to get distracted by. Sending good wishes to All.
I’m thankful for my four healthy and vibrant teenagers; their good attitudes (mostly) about all of this and the time we’ve been able to play games and talk together. All of the hard is sooo hard for so many; and I’m mindful that we need to remain aware of that. Thank you for your thoughts and reflections.
I’m grateful for family connections, even at a distance. I know our lives have forever changed. I hope we embrace and remember to always take time to savor the moments.
Thank you!
I’m thankful for garden seeds that I recently ordered, and for the hope of new sprouts. Spring sunshine will heal us, as we try to find peace.
Always a gift to read your words. Grateful during this time for the miracle of ordinary: beautiful snow storm, daffodils blooming, neighbors cheering at 8pm nightly for our caregivers, Zoom calls with family, time….
I already have your book, so no need to enter me. Today I am grateful for your words, as I always am. Seeing a new post from you is a gift. Your words always resonate with me. I find myself holding both gratitude and sorrow daily. I believe that’s some of the hard work of growing up, knowing we can hold space for all of our feelings, as conflicting and troubling as they may be. Thank you Katrina.
A guiding light in my own journey of motherhood – this book is a gem, a treasure, a friend. I am so grateful to have stumbled upon it so many years ago when my oldest was just over one! And now my paperback copy signed by you is a true treasure. If I can hunt down two more ingredients from neighbors – my three kids and I will be baking bread tomorrow! Warm wishes for health for you and yours Katrina! Thank you for writing this book in what I now know were demanding years of motherhood that probably made getting pen to paper almost impossible! Grateful!
This was a refreshing post to read. As someone suffering the effects of the virus itself, my husband having just gotten over it and his mother succumbing to it, I find myself discouraged by the amount of politically charged posts all around. I can guess that anyone in my position or one similar can tell you today is not the day to care who is left, middle, or right. We are all people deserving of love and respect. Right now we need to be helpers. When it comes down to it, The most important things most of us can do are the little things. I’m under quarantine right now, so nobody wants my hand made bread or handwritten letters, but I can make phone calls or email those who are going this alone, and I can encourage those on the frontlines. Mitten strings is still my go-to book. I should definitely pick it up again soon.
Wishing you and your family healing.
I am grateful for the slower pace and the special quality time at home with my family. I love visits from my daughter and the brotherly bonding between my boys before our older son heads to college in the fall. I am grateful that my employer has given me the opportunity to work from home. I am grateful for good health and this gift of time to reconnect with everything that truly matters. 😊💕🙏🏻💗
Thank you so much for your lovely words and for sharing your wonderful recipe. God bless you for the gift of words you share with us.
Count me in, Katrina! I am grateful to be providing parent education to our community of Silicon Valley — virtual now, instead of in-person—but needed more than ever.
I’m not commenting to enter, I simply want to say how much your book means to me. I read it years before I had a child, and it touched me deeply. It taught me a new way to look at the world and appreciate the moments of beauty every day. And when I had a child, as a single mother, it gave me a sense of how to give my child a lovely life without feeling like I had to fill his days to make up for the parent I felt he lost.
I have my copy of your book close at hand. Even though I haven’t read it in years, I keep it close like a comfortable friend. I have highlighted it, written notes in it, and worn the pages, and I wouldn’t give it up for anything!
I don’t know if I can ever explain sufficiently how much it has meant to me. I thank you for putting your words to the page and sharing them with me.
I know what you mean about having the book close by. I had it on my nightstand for years after I finished reading it!
Katrina-
You always say what I’m feeling in such a perfect way. My children were 6 and 2 when I purchased your book. It really spoke to me as I struggled to keep up with the busyness of life and all the things I thought I needed to be doing to be a good mother. You showed me that it was okay to slow down and appreciate the little moments in life. Thank you for that. I’ve continued to follow you through the years as both of our children are now adults! Happy Anniversary to Mitten Strings For God! Glad to hear you and your family are well. ❤️
Thank you for the wonderful blog post.
I am trying every day to count my blessings. And yo remember that if I must stay in…the best place to do that is home with my people and things around me.
I, too, am grateful for the health of my family, my amazing adult daughters and son-in-law, and my precious one-year-old granddaughter. As a nana, I find it much easier to relax and be in the moment. What in the world could be more important than these moments with her? I love reading your books and feel like sitting down and having a cup of coffee or tea together would be perfect!
During a bike ride with a friend last week, I told her about your books and how much they meant to me. I am also the mother of two sons, now in their late teens. I read Mitten Strings when they were in elementary school, and I still remember how it brought tears to my eyes because it rang true. I made an effort to slow down, listen and talk with my kids about what made them smile and happy. I remembered all of this as I described your books to my friend and we vowed to not take the ordinary days for granted, and to make the most of this unexpected time when we are all home again with our kids.
Katrina, As you so often do, you have applid some structure to the jumble of thoughts and emotions I have been having…especially the contrasting emotions of guilt and gratitude.
I love the image of you sitting on the couch next to Jack with him finger knitting. I still have the jump ropes that the boys finger knitted during their early Pine Hill years and when I come across them I am reminded those were the first of many projects created by their own hands. Later came the knitted hats, crocheted animals, cross-stitched pencil holders, the hand-sewn pajamas snd quilted pillows, and the chairs and tables created in the wood shop that now grace our home. Thank you for sending me on a journey down Memory Lane tonight….I am grateful for that diversion. Take care and Be well.
Thank you for your beautiful, honest , heartfelt words. I have all your books and re-read them whenever I need to reach for some inspiration and insight. These have been difficult days.
I needed to read this tonight. You have expressed what I’ve been feeling but haven’t been writing, except in my mind. I loved Mitten Springs for God and your Ordinary Day book. Thank you so much for this.
I miss being with my 6 grandchildren.
I miss being able to hug people, meetIng friends for coffee, seeing people smile and converse casually at the grocery store, good sleep without nightmares, walking on the beach, going to the library with my kids, so many ordinary things. Thank you for your honest and beautiful words. As always, they helped me to clarify my thoughts and brought peace to my anxious mind. Take good care. ❤️
I discovered your book on a sale table when my children were just a preschooler, twin toddlers and an infant. I read it at the cottage – in small sips of time that I could find. And then I bought a second copy – this time at full price – to lend out to friends.
It was one of a small handful of books I read in those years which dramatically shaped my parenting path.
I have read your other titles -always feeling you were just a few years ahead of me. I got The Gift of an Ordinary Day for Christmas but was afraid to open it, having learned the next day that my mother had been diagnosed with lung cancer. I was not sure I could read it and contemplate any ordinary day. Eventually, after she passed away, just five grueling months later. I opened it, and cried through much of it.
Your words always land exactly right and I am thankful for you.
I still have 2 copies of Mitten Strings for God on my bookshelf. I am saving them for my daughters.
Hoping you and your family stay well.
I’m grateful to read your words, and to know I’m not alone in feeling that in between of awareness of how much I have in my life to be grateful for (a fully stocked kitchen, toilet paper, savings, a well paying remote job) and also be aware of how many others are hurting in this time and have so much less, often to little fault of their own.
I’m thankful for the family time and the time it has given our oldest to heal from the 2 (planned) surgeries he had in the last month. We already homeschool, so the education piece hasn’t changed much for us, but we are not usually at home near this much! He had been so worried about what he would miss during his recovery, but turns out, he has missed out on none of it since everyone’s plans have been canceled. He is on the spectrum, so changes in his plans can be difficult, but he has been handling this all better than expected (& probably better than me some days!). I’m thankful for our small garden that continues to grow & carving out new corners of our yard that we can grow something new in. We had our 1st ripe strawberries today & the girls were able to add them to their lunch. Seeing our 2 year old pick the strawberry & know that all of them helped to make that happen, made me smile. Simple things that have always been there, we just so often miss how wonderful they really are.
I am loving all this time at home. I am an extrovert and I tend to do too much. I am really evaluating what things to change when things return to “normal.”
As mom to five healthcare workers, two whom have tested positive in early March and have just gone back to the front lines this week, this has been a deepened season of prayer for me. I believe The Lord is giving us time to reflect and reset our lives, individually and corporately. May eyes, ears, and hearts be opened to this opportunity. ❤️
This is a beautiful statement. We are going through difficult times here too, but I still believe as you do. And I can’t say I mind waking up at 8 am vs 5am either!
Prayers for your family and thankful for their dedication as health care workers.
I am working from home now, offering therapy online with clients now rather than face to face. I also have my three children all at home from school. It’s a juggle. I am though so grateful to be keeping my family and clients safer this way. I’m so glad to still be able to exercise outside one a day as my body seems to need movement more than ever, and the blossom on the trees helps lift my spirits and help connect me to the here and now. The hardest aspect by far is not being able to visit my parents, especially with my mum having terminal cancer. I worry that I may never hug her again, but also an thankful that we can still communicate, despite the 4 hours between us. I would love a read of this book to help me slow and to validate that.
I can remember the day you were on Oprah discussing this book. I always wanted to buy iy but being a single mom I never had the chance. Now I have 7 wonderful grandchildren. The youngest one will be Turning 1 on June 12th. I would Love this for him. I am so thankful for the gift of seeing life continue on through my children and now grandchildren. They teach me more about how fragile and quickly life goes by Thank you. Count Me In
I already have this book, Katrina, but have two daughters who have two young sons each and would love to have another copy so that I could give one to each of my girls! Please count me in. (My husband and I are under lockdown in Spain, one daughter is in Australia and one in Canada. I don’t know how long it will be until we see them all again 🙁)
Count me in! I’m thankful for the nature around me which does not know the limitations of quarantine. It is the new spring life which sustains me these days. The birds at the feeder, the nests in the trees, the blooms in the garden, and of course, the bees – our most essential workers – hard at work.
Thank you, I will make the bread today. Your writing is a gift to me, reminding me even now with 15 and 18 yo kids, that slowing down is valuable
I found ‘Mitten Strings’ on my daughter’s bookshelf about 10 years ago and wished I had had it when she and her brothers were small. However, whilst reading it I realised that I had come to the ‘less is more’ conclusion which you did. My friends seemed to take their children to so much whereas I often just took mine home from school and let them play and be with themselves and each other. I did a far from perfect job as a mother but I know that allowing my children to learn to be with themselves was a gift which I didn’t know I gave them until so much later. Happy anniversary to “MSFG” and love and best wishes to you and all your family from England
Thank you for this beautiful share, all of it! I miss my Dad, and as grateful as I am I still have my mom, the virus is keeping us very much apart. I plan to bake her this bread. Thank you!
Your words give me hope . I miss the “normal ”
And so scared of what the new normal will look like .
I miss being able to leave my home not worry about getting sick by simply going to the grocery store . 💔
Thank you for your blog post today . ♥️
I miss YOU. Thanks for writing this beautiful blog. xoxo
I’m grateful my family is still healthy, but missing their physical presence.
I do miss long, leisurely lunches with friends.
And, I love your writing. Please keep sending out your thoughts. So helpful. Do comforting.
This was wonderful to read in my inbox! I was just wondering yesterday whether you had written anything lately and then here it is.
Thank you for the bread recipe – we share food with our neighbors two or three times a week so they will definitely appreciate it 🙂
I hear you on the guilt… some of my very dear friends are in hard circumstances so that it hits close to home. And we all keep doing what we can… stay safe and loved!
I’m grateful for your reflections and your lovely writing. I read The Gift of an Ordinary Day just as everything was shutting down due to the pandemic, and it was the perfect book for me to read as everything slowed down.
I am happy to hear that you and your family are safe and healthy. 💗
I miss my children
Count me in – I miss hugs.
Your writing has always inspired me and your awareness of your privilege reminds me to remain aware of mine – thank you.
Grateful for your blog post, the right thing at the right time. I remember Jack and Carly — so little then and so grown up now. Carly is in Berlin, sheltered in place with her husband and their sweet puppy. I miss my girls. Grateful for the safety of our home and the beauty outside our door. And hoping & praying that all who are struggling will find peace and safety too. Love to you and your family. And thx for the bread recipe!
Your writings bring hope and reflection whenever my spirit needs replenishment of whatever form….following for quite some time now thru our families joys and sorrows. Be well and thank you from a grateful reader.
I came to know your books late in the life of raising children and felt so sad that I so could have used your wisdoms when the kiddos were younger and my life was fraught. Your words have been soothing nonetheless and I have tried so hard to forgive myself of mistakes and wishing I could rewrite the story. We are all grown up now and I’m a grandma! My second chance to get it right and I’m blessed to be enveloped in my families lives and giving my time when their lives are fraught. Thank you so much for your honest, raw words that have soothed my soul! Grateful during these tough times to still know what matters and to sweep away the garbage words that litter our paths each day! Happy blessed 20 years to the beginning of your awesome books!
I am grateful for friends, neighbors and family, who stay in touch via phone, video and old-fashioned cards and letters.
Count me in!
I miss hugging and kissing and grand parenting my grandchildren. My heart aches for my four grown up children, two of whom have lost their jobs. My heart and mind hurt for all the less fortunate people who do not have a safe home, a warm loaf of bread, or even another body to hug. I feel so helpless and want to do something, but as immune compromised individual, I am trying my best. I donate money to the food bank, and I send homemade goodies to my elderly neighbors, and lastly I craft homemade cards of cheer and send out a bunch every week to cheer friends and helpers. We zoom our grandchildren and drive by, throwing sugary candy on their front lawns, which makes their parents smile. We are all doing the best we can. This too shall pass, and hopefully we will all be better human beings for it.
I loved reading your memoir, A Magical Journey, last month. My youngest son is going to “leave our nest prematurely” to go to boarding school in another state, as did your son. Your words were an incredible comfort to me. I felt like I had a friend holding my hand as I turned the pages. Thank you for sharing your life and observations with us! My spouse works in healthcare and I am staying home with my almost grown kids. I would love to read Mitten Strings while sheltering in place.
Conserving everything, my husband & I have made 12 rolls of toilet paper last 4 week – we previously used at least one roll per day. Instead of 2-3 bags of garbage per week, we have only one! BluDog & I are enjoying the woods behind our home more, discovering plants we’d never noticed. Yes, there is tragedy & horribleness all over but, too, glimmers of hope.
I’m grateful for your words on a Sunday morning when mental fatigue seems a bit heavier. Your words are a balm and help lighten the load. I encountered Mitten Strings and Gift if an Ordinary Day 11 (?) years ago as a new mom of 2 boys, and a prenatal yoga instructor. There were times when I just wanted to spend the whole class reading to those expectant moms from one of your books, mine are so dog-eared and highlighted. I think I’ll be pulling them down off my shelf today and will revisit them – with a warm slice of bread. Thank you.
❤️ I am grateful for you and your writing. I saw you in my Facebook feed and don’t recall when I “liked” your page. But I must have read something else you wrote that resonated with me and thus you’re in my feed. I was curious and started looking at your info and finally read your post. Such a pleasant moment on this Sunday morning. Thank you.
I’ll never understand it, but your words are like a sigh in my heart. Every time. And when I come to the end of what you have written, in my head there is a list of people I need to forward your words to and today, those who also need bread.💛
I would so LOVE to win this book! Your words resonate and sustain so many. Write more? YES, please! Share small or smaller snippets with us if you wish. They needn’t be long or taxing. ♥️
Your words and lessons in this book are timeless and so very, very relevant especially in these times we find ourselves in now. I am thankful for being forced to slow down in these months before my two teenaged daughters both head off to college in the fall. Forced family time has drawn us closer and brought us back to doing things that we used to do in simpler times when they were younger – baking, at-home spa days, watching tv, taking long walks, sharing books. As in everything in life, there are silver linings. We just need to open our eyes and look in some often overlooked places. Thank you for your gentle words and reminders of what’s really important.
I just stumbled upon your blog post after having read a cover story in the New York Times today that left me feeling scared and lonely. The title of the article is “CoronaVirus in America what the next year or two may look like”. The Scientific facts and realities in the story are frightening. But, yet I sit in my cozy kitchen looking out at the blooming trees and the yellow forsythia, and realize how grateful I am to have what I have. As always, I totally connect with what you have written and it expresses exactly how I am feeling. I too have my older son at home with me, as he has escaped the big city. And, my younger son is in Utah, where I pray he is staying healthy. Thanks once again for your amazing words!
I am grateful for a stretch of time that seems to allow for everything — time enough in each day for moments of feeling real grief moving through or to step outside and feel the spring sunshine, for no reason, in the middle of the day. This is a time of depth, if only I can give myself permission to remember that.
Thank you for this reflection and recipe, Katrina!
I am thankful for my safe and cozy house filled with people that I don’t just like be, but also like, and honestly enjoy being with. I share your sentiment or feeling both lucky and guilty for all that we have.
Your words always seem to come at the time when I need them. I am healthy, I have a warm home, dogs and cats to snuggle with and a job I can do from my home office. My oven broke just before stay at home orders and I’m anxiously awaiting the delivery of my new one. When it arrives I will be baking bread and sharing with neighbors. I love all of your recipes — especially the lemon cake! I don’t know what our new normal will look like, but I know I don’t want to rush back into an exhausting daily grind. This pandemic has forced me to reevaluate what’s important and how I want to spend my time.
I so very miss my very simple , ordinary slow life, as a quiet person, not being able to enjoy my simple small pleasures has been tough. Grateful to be healthy!
I am thankful for your heartfelt reflections on life… on all of it. I am learning what truly matters are the very simple things… people, purpose, and maybe that’s it. I miss being with my people and sharing hugs and love in person.
I miss hugs. I’m grateful for the slower pace.
Dearest Katrina,
I am always so grateful for your words. They speak directly to my heart and soothe my soul. I struggle with the same tension – gratitude for the abundance God has blessed me with and sorrow for the grief, illness, scarcity, and fear for so many. I don’t know what to do other than continue to love God, love my family and neighbors, pray for the world, support those on the front lines caring for the sick and hungry and wait patiently as we minimize the spread of this virus. There have been many unexpected insights during this “great slow down” and I feel a much needed course-correction as the busyness of the last several years just falls away. I hope you will keep sharing your wisdom and art with us.
Peace and love,
Kate
Thank you so very much for this. I have stepped away from reading anything much on social media as of late, because of the negativity and political taint on everything. Your words speak to my heart and I needed that. I wish you continued peace.
Elizabeth
I am grateful to have my kids tucked in at home. Mittens Strings was an oasis of peace for me before bed, helping center me during the chaotic time of raising 3 small ones. Now 21,19,15 with their own struggles I am trying to take this time to connect with them in little ways. Yesterday I baked focaccia with my 19 year old and cookies with my 15 year old. Still so fun to cook with them! Now we will try your bread! Thank you for all you have shared. I have given countless copies of Mitten Strings to fellow mothers over the years and was delighted to see a friend post this just this morning!
I am grateful for this beautiful bit of truth-telling and grace.
Thank you for your words. Gratitude, grief and guilt – all in tension with the other. Feel so grateful for daily walks in the park, with time to really appreciate the gradual blooming of spring, though so aware that so many others are confined – sick or afraid, dealing with home schooling and rambunctious children or elderly relatives living in isolation in nursing homes. Certainly missing a good hug from family and friends.
At a time when we are the most separated, I’m grateful to live in a community where people care deeply for one another and continually find ways to become and stay connected. When I check in with family in other parts of the country, they don’t have the same sense of community to rely on. We are so very fortunate to live in Peterborough.
Also I love the saying on the tea towel covering the bread!
Please count me in! I miss many things but am focused on things I’m grateful for this morning. I am grateful for my teenagers whom I have had so much more time with than I would normally. Remembering to appreciate the ordinary moments is a gift you have given the world …something I keep with me as I navigate my time in social isolation with teens who need/want to be out with friends and instead are home.
Seeing this book anniversary reminded me how much I LOVED this book when my “babies” were little and how much of a guide it was to me. All of your books have guided me through my journey as a mom, Katrina. I would love to receive this book as it is the one book I did not buy…I read from the library.
I do miss my own mom whom I lost 8 years ago and being able to ask her advice on parenting, mothering things…again, your books have been a great comfort to me during these years…the wisdom I needed and reminders on being present when my own mom couldn’t be there for me. My mom passed in May and with Mother’s Day in May it would be a perfect pick me up to receive this unexpected joy. Thank you for your fine work and being so inspirational to many women/moms…with gratitude and peace. Dawn
I am grateful for it all…this time of great grief, this pause, this opportunity to reflect.💕
I too have 2 boys and I have learned that we have everything we need here, at home, with our family together. I learned I want to do things differently moving forward as I don’t need to get from place to place to be ok. Thank you for your words.
There is something so comforting about freshly baked bread. I have the ingredients and you have inspired me to bake. Peace to you, Katrina
Your posts never fail to touch my heart. Thank you for your thoughts in this perilous time.
So grateful for these beautiful words and your gift to the world through your writing and many other talents. Less is indeed more. I wish so much I’d had your book and wise counsel when I was raising my children. Wish also we could have been neighbors and friends on the journey! ❤️
Thankful for stumbling across your words this morning and for being reminded that the little things are actually the big things.
I just read something that said “we’re all in the same storm, but not in the same boat.” I am one of the lucky ones, still working (from home), my kids are older and don’t need much schoolwork help. I donated money to the food bank, and was able to send money to my hair stylist and Yoga instructor. And I pray for those on the front lines. While I know for some this is a nightmare, I view it as a gift for our family. I would love to win your book. Namaste
Grateful for your words as always and the beauty of spring enfolding. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
My dear friend’s identical twin daughter recently gave birth to twin identical daughters. I gave her my beloved copy of Mitten Strings – a gifted with blessings, encouragement, hope and humor as she navigates our new world and her bundles of joy. 💚
Dearest Katrina,
Thank you for the reminder. Your book has meant a lot to me from that first moment I found it at ‘Bookends’ In Winchester, MA. My well worn paperback copy is signed by you. I read it and re-read it while nursing both my boys over 10 years ago. Even for me, those days seem like another lifetime. I think it is time for a re-read. I appreciate you, your writings, your thoughts, and your shares. As always, there is a line or two in your writings that anchor me to what is important. Even though it may only seem meaningful to you, …’it seems worth remembering that ALL our work matters, as long as it’s offered in love.”
This truly has been an interesting time. I’m missing dear family members the most but at the same time I’m learning new things and now with the pause, truly appreciating all that we have. And oh the stars at night have never been so bright!
Count me in!
Grateful for this day and for reading such a heartfelt , inspirational post from you!! Thank You and please count me in!!!
I am thankful for two senior boys. One home from Princeton and the other finishing out his high school career at home. They haven’t complained once during the quarantine and make everyday a blessing.
I’ve been following you for 20 years and I want you to know that you were someone I turned to for inspiration when the boys were young.
I am grateful for you!
Happy anniversary!
I’m so grateful for the big things and grieving the small things.
Your blog is always a reminder for me of what’s important.
I read Mitten Strings for God many years ago
when my children were small. I loved it but also let a friend borrow it and never got it back so I would love to receive this! I’m loving this time to slow down but I’m filled with compassion for those suffering and anxious for my family’s health. My 20 year old son works at Target so is at risk 5 days a week.
At the best of times, I am a worrier. Right now I live with a lot of fear of getting sick. As one in a “high risk category” I worry that a quick trip to the grocery store, that might include passing a group of people refusing to observe an appropriate social distance, could be enough to bring me down. God forbid it happen to my husband, almost a decade older than me. I worry for my sons. One is working for an airline. It is considered an essential job – cleaning the planes of the small fleet still in flight. The airline is providing no PPEs nor a space where employees can keep a safe physical distance while awaiting the flight arrivals. My other son, a junior in high school has had much of his world upended. I worry, and then I worry again, about the future he is growing up into. But in the midst of all my neurotic worry, I am very aware the situation far worse for many.
I am grateful for my circumstances. In this isolation, despite the worry, I have found a renewed sanctuary in the quiet of my neighborhood and the stillness of my home. Fewer options has led to a calmer and more creative mind. For years I’ve said “I want to learn how to sew.” Ever intimidated by the machine with all it’s gadgets – and by the nagging feeling (which my brother shares) that there is a chip missing in my brain for operating anything mechanical – I have let (expected) my husband to do all the seam mending and small sewing jobs. I am happy to report that I finally tackled the beast. My sons, husband and I needed masks so I did it. I have mastered the machine, and I’m thankful for the many new projects it can afford me. Of course, since we can’t get out to buy fabric my wardrobe is making a sacrifice, volunteering old cotton shirts and pajamas to the cause.
I am also very grateful for essays like yours, Katrina. While I busy my hands, your writing is a comfort to my soul. Perhaps I will take up bread making next. I’d love read your book. Thank you.
Grieving the lost of my mom,my best friend at the age of 99. I was a full time caregiver for her since 2012 when my job was closed. As my nephew said she loved us and we loved her. A big piece of my heart is missing. Enjoy reading your blogs.
I am grateful for friends and neighbors, who reach out by phone or text or by waving and slowing to chat from a safe distance as they walk the neighborhood. The connectedness is palpable in ways I don’t see in busier times.
I have loved Mitten Strings for God since my 28 year old daughter was small. I would love to share a signed copy of your book with her! It is wonderful to find you again. Your words touch my heart.
Thank you for your reflections, Katrina.
I have been re-reading my copy of “gift of an ordinary day”, which called me as the perfect “homey” book after working at the local Target store. Your striving for simplicity and filling your hearth/home with love fill are so soul-soothing!
Three sets of house guests have had to cancel staying in our empty nest, yet striving daily to see the gifts that we do have brings a healthy contentedness to our outlook.
May blessings continue!
PS. Love hearing the updates on your family! Thank you!
I miss strolling through stores, lunches and coffee with friends, visiting family on the East coast, long drives with hubby, but most of all, feeling safe when we go out. I am very blessed in many ways and try to focus on that, and not get overwhelmed by the scope of the pandemic and the tragic havoc it is wreaking on the world.
Thank you for your timely reflection and for sharing the recipe. I look forward to sharing the results with others.
God bless you and yours.
I’m thankful for the reminder about Mitten Strings. I loved that book so much. My kids are 18 (yes missing the remainder of her senior year), and 15. I havent read that book in years, but it is still lovingly kept in my night stand. Im pulling it out right now to revisit. Its like an old beloved friend!!
I am thankful to be well. I’m grateful for this learning environment we’ve been forced into because there are lessons always to learn. I’m grateful to discover your words because a blogger I follow (David Kanigan) shared them today. Very grateful for this. I’d love to share this book with my daughter who is a first time mom making me a new grandma.
I love your memory of “peace”. I have a 22 year old who was much the same. Now, he’s a big feeler, a big thinker which we know can used for good or well, worse.
Be well.
I’m thankful for my own health and that of my family (so far), my sheltering home, the fact that my husband still has a job, the food that I am able to purchase, and for the gift of your words. Thank you. They bring me hope, solace, and comfort.
I was gifted Mitten Strings For God when I was expecting my second son. A boy who, it turns out, has many similarities in temperment to your Jack. Since then, I have regifted your book to spread the love and words of encouragement.
Today I am grateful for all this extra time with my boys (now 10 and almost 7). The time is flying by but I am never regretful of simple moments spent together. I am also thankful for our families scrappiness and resilience. With two furloughs currently in place we could collectively turn to anxiety and instead are choosing to cobble life together. I am endlessly appreciative of a partner who approches life the same way I do.
I often think of the joy those simple days contained while I was juggling three children. Their laughter, tears and uniqueness. This week I’ve listened to a podcast produced by my oldest, a video produced by my youngest, and seen a photography portfolio created by the middle child. And I cry tears of wonder and joy- who are these young adults? I can still find the little boy or girl within these moments, but I am filled with awe at their beauty and maturity as well. Thank you for this reminder. And Mitten Strings is the book missing from my collection!
I am grateful for the gift of Wi-Fi from my neighbors yesterday. After being cooped up at home without any connection to the Internet for over six weeks, I finally asked for help and my request was granted. It was lovely to read this blog post this morning. I was gifted The Gift of an Ordinary Day when it was first published and loved it and I have reread it several times since, most recently a few weeks ago. I find your writing to be remarkable. So evocative and full of emotion. I wonder how you do it. Thank you for continuing to share your gifts with all of us as well as your recipe. Namaste.
I am grateful for blogs like yours. Beautifully written!
I am grateful to you for sharing your extraordinary talent for writing from the heart all those 20 years ago when I was the mother of three children struggling to “slow down” our lives while it seemed everyone else in our place in life was speeding up and suggesting we should keep up. We did slow down, and it gives me tremendous pleasure today to hear our adult children reminisce things like home cooked meals eaten nightly gathered together around the table…one of the simple yet impactful routines that we relentlessly held on to despite outside pressures.
Thank you for being my encouragement to do what I felt was right as a mother back then. I drew great strength from your books as they came into my life at the most opportune times, Your writing continues to lift me up today as a woman who proudly and fully embraces the pleasures found in the gift of an ordinary day.
Happy 20th anniversary.
Dearest Katrina,
Thank you for this beautiful reflection. It was the perfect start to my day. I will be a better mother, wife and friend because of it. Thank you for the bread recipes, too. I only need cornmeal and my neighbors will be so appreciative. Hugs and love to you and your family. 💝
This is my favorite all time Parenting book- one that I have read many times. :o) My 5 of my kids are still little.. the oldest just turned 9. We are so thankful that Daddy has been able to work from home and it has led to so much more time together as a family.
This remains my favorite book – parenting or otherwise. I still have 2 copies so I don’t need another but I’ll take the bread recipe:) Thank you!
Katrina, you somehow make magic with your words, even when you struggle. This post is a reminder to me of so many things. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Grateful that our home is full of love and a warm place to wait out this current storm. Praying for all those who are not so privileged during this time.
Thanks, as always, dear Katrina. Your words are so comforting at times like these. I sent them to a friend just now who was struggling this morning <3
Today is Emily’s birthday, and I dug up fprget-me-nots to plant on my daughter’s grave. Singing happy birthday to her as we wash our hands…..
Katrina, greetings! I feel like you are a friend although we have never met. I found your book when my children were newborn and 2. And Katrina, I made Wonder Bread just last week! Your book was the underlying tempo of my motherhood. Thank you , thank you for having the courage to voice such good and countercultural wisdom. I wish you peace, joy, stillness, and grace!
I am grateful for how this pandemic has brought out some of the very best in us, and have high hopes we will all be a little kinder, more patient and more loving to our family, friends and neighbours….
Count me in
Blessings, Karen Pearson
Katrina,
I am particularly grateful for your willingness to articulate the feelings I struggle to manage on my own. We have so much, and we are so fortunate, and yet so many struggle and the loss is so great … a loved one passed away from Covid-19, toward the end of her life but still not ready to go; my teens struggle without their friends “IRL;” my daughter struggles mightily with anxiety and depression, both exacerbated by the pandemic. And yet … time marches on. We relish the blue sky, the daffodils, the tulips, our dogs’ joy, the candles on the table … and we pray for health and peace. And … all while we await your next post …
With love and appreciation,
Erin
You are an inspiration and bring peace within me with your writing and blog posts. Please continue to post and would truly be grateful if you pulled my name from all your readers who entered. Thank you.
Katrina, your writing inspires me to count the many blessings in my life and to be grateful for everything.
However, my heart bleeds from not being able to hold, hug and kiss my four grown children, two of whom are working on the front-line in the NHS in the UK., one is a paramedic, the other a physiotherapist working in respiratory ITU.
It’s a strange combination of intense pride for the work they’re doing and fear for their safety.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful writing during these strange times.
Love and safety to all xx
I miss those days of sitting together on the couch and reading book after book aloud to my two kids when they were little.
Count me in!
I’m grateful for the innocence in my children’s eyes….
To see a Katrina post in my Inbox is to feel God giving me a hug of comfort. Today, as I struggled with my own conflicted feelings of guilt & gratitude; not only about having my needs met as a elderly senior and not being actively able to help others as I want to do, your words are like a balm to my spirit. As Karen stated above: “Your words always land exactly right and I am thankful for you.”
That divinely orchestrated reminder of your Jack-inspired book’s anniversary is beautiful; just imagining how many millions of us have been spiritually touched by you & your following writings, Katrina…!!
I’m grieving so many things! And I find myself in a weird position where I’m grieving the past as well as our envisioned future. In early March, we moved across the country, and our months of planning for that move included lots of exploration into what opportunities were in store for us in our new location. And now, well, of course we can’t participate in any of those things. We’re in a bizarre limbo where we mourn what we left behind, and ache for what we thought we’d be gaining.
I am grateful for your words today, which I can relate to so much. My kids are just a little bit younger than yours (21 and 23) and your book was a big, lovely part of those formative parenting years for me. I’m sad I don’t have it any more, decluttered I suppose in one of our moves, but also glad to think it’s most likely blessing someone else’s home. Your words really hit home today, speaking of the inner and outer struggles we all face right now. I too am grateful to slow down, to be more mindful, and that we still have a home and paychecks and children who are safe and well (one of them, like your Henry, is with us, and one is an hour south in Minneapolis still working, attending college, and able to afford her first little apartment yet).
Thank you for such comforting thoughts.
count me in…thank you
Trying to find joy amid uncertainty. Your writing is one of the things that bring me joy! I have faith things will get better. God is in control!
Grateful for the roof over my head and hope we can keep it. Thank you Katrina for another wonderful post.
Such a beautiful blog! Thank you for all of the wonderful reminders.
Please keep writing and sharing with us. I always have a feeling of delight when I see you in my inbox. I cherish everything you write and your words, insights, love, and compassion are health promoting always, and especially now. Thank you!
I first met you through my dog eared hardcover of “Mitten Strings..” a welcome respite from some of my crazier motherhood days. I loved it so and eventually ended up sharing it in my Parent Education classes as a devotion or centering piece for those weary mamas. For many years I have given it as a baby gift and indeed just yesterday to our favorite waitress, giving birth in this crazy Covid 19 time. SO I say a very heartfelt “Happy Anniversary” to “Mitten Strings” and to you dear Katrina. Your words are like a soothing salve, both then and now. Please count me in! xoxo
I am thankful for my days slowing down. Activities being canceled . For a healthy kids. And a Father in Heaven who loves us.
I am grateful for my spouse of 30 years. I am a nurse and he does all of our shopping for the necessities. I only go to work and stay home on my off time. I wear a mask all day at work. I don’t need to wear one grocery shopping too. I truly have learned no to sweat the small stuff. I miss both of my boys. One is quarantining in Europe all alone. One is on a ship at sea protecting our rights. I grieve for those who have lost their livelihoods and for those who have no health insurance..
I am so grateful for this blog post and for your book. I live in Cape Town. Mom of a 1 year old and 3.5 year old. Trying to look after them while working from home during this lock down. My mom found Mitten Strings for God quite a while ago in a second hand book shop and later lent it to me. I have just never given it back to her! It also lives on my bedside table, like so many other women’s comments I’ve read. Thank you for writing your book. Thank you for sharing your heart and insights with us. I am grateful that I have this time with my girls. Lately my oldest has been asking me to tell her stories (“not books Mom, please tell me a story, out of your mouth”) and so I went back and re-read your chapter on Stories and was encouraged and inspired. Thank you!
Katrina- Thank you for putting into words exactly what I have been experiencing. I have been dealing with guilt that I am ok when so many others are not. As a writer, I have also felt that my words and my perspective fall short right now when so many are hurting. You have made me feel better and given voice to my heart. I appreciate your insights today.
I am grateful for the luxury of time. Without having to rush through a daily routine , I am slowing down and savoring even the most mundane task. My appreciation has increased tenfold . The air smells fresher and the Spring blossom seem more bountiful. I feel like I am viewing the world with a different set of eyes.
Dear Katrina,
Thank you for your gift of words that resonate so deeply. I am grateful for my safe home and my precious family. Take good care!
Katrina, once again you have captured what I have been feeling and what I’ve been telling my patients, friends, and colleagues: we are all suffering, and this is hard on so many levels. It is so important to be able to hold all the things that you talk about at the same time. Like you, I feel incredibly grateful that my husband, who is a teacher, and I, a therapist and administrator, are both employed and able to work (mostly) remotely. I go in to the medical practice where I work once every six days in a rotation with other behavioral health clinicians, and I consider it a privilege to be able to provide support for the nurses taking calls from anxious patients and the physicians doing telephone and video visits with their patients. Our sacrifices are comparatively small, and yet I still grieve that I’m not getting on a plane to see my daughter and her family in Boulder next week, that my son and his family are not coming here from San Diego next month, that we aren’t able to see our friends, who are more like family, face-to-face. Both, and. Both grateful and sad. Oh, and no yeast to be found anywhere…
Today I am grieving for my best friend of over 60 years. Her daughter died this morning after fighting a seven year battle with metastatic breast cancer. She fought with tremendous strength and courage. I grieve that I cannot travel to be by her side, but I give thanks for her beautiful friendship all these years. I am also thankful that they were able to see beautiful Laura during her last few days in the hospital. I have a copy of Mitten Strings, which I treasure, so I would send the new copy to Sandy. We both aspire to being great grandmothers, so we can meet a new generation. I am also thankful to receive your blog on a day when I needed it most.
I discovered you through Karen Maezan Miller and you are both spiritual leaders in my eyes and heart. I read Mitten Strings when my daughter was two (she’s almost eleven now) and like Jack- always on the go. I remember my frustration with feeling like she was never content. I learned from Mitten Strings that I needed to slow down for her. We have a wonderful connection now. I love and am grateful for all of your books and posts. Thank you
I read this book when my children were toddlers and it changed my parenting for the better. I miss working through this pandemic but I’m grateful for more time at home with my children who are 9 and 11 years old now. Thank you for sharing your beautiful words with the world.
Yes, love to be entered in!! Thankful for a clear schedule and the downtime to enjoy slower days, sunsets, long walks, homemade meals!
My daughter is 20 and I remember coming across your blog and reading Mitten Strings for God when she was 5 or 6. Reading this post drew me back to a time when we spent afternoons making trips to the library, reading books, doing puzzles and playing games together. I miss those days so much and I miss her.
I am grateful for this chance to slow down. I feel like my family has gotten closer over the past two months and with two teen boys (13, 15) in the house that is a really good thing! I miss teaching yoga but am loving practicing with friends across the country via live streaming classes. I miss even the most crazy things like taking my kids to school in the morning but am grateful to have them home safe with me. I just ordered a copy of The Gift of an Ordinary Day from Toad Books. I haven’t read it in awhile and I think it will be just what I need right now….even though I adore your first book and own a copy. Thank you for your posts! They are always a bright light in my day.
I would love you to Count Me In! Every single time I read anything you write, I feel warmed and comforted. Thank you so much for that! It is so nice to have your friendship along this journey.
I have learned that material things are meaningless, a safe home & my family’s well being is all that truly matters.
I’ve learned that life isn’t about going through the motions, & that prior to the COVID pandemic time was always an issue for me, “when I have time, if only I had more time, what time is it?” Now that I have more time than I ever imagined I’m much more productive on how I spend it & I value it.
I’m grateful my family is not impacted financially & for the ability to work from home.
Please count me in for the book giveaway. I’ll use my time to read it ♥️
My sister gave me your book many years ago and I read it and reread it and then reread it again!
My copy is worn and crumpled but still has a beloved place on my bookshelf. It resonated with me
then and still does so today. I’m grateful for my two boys who at ages 10 and 12 are still happy
with the small things (most of the time). For their childish heart and innocence, which is fleeting,
I’m extremely grateful.
I read Mitten Strings when my children were little and carry its lessons on to the preschool families I am working with during this time. This week we are talking about storytelling — it was you who first turned me on to that art!
I am also trying to appreciate the gift of these ordinary days with my teenagers. I can’t wait to bake the bread with them.
Many years ago my sister sent me a copy of your book. I read it, reread it, and still pick it up today to reread various sections.
It resonated with me then and still does today. I’m grateful my boys, who at the ages of 10 and 12 still find joy and happiness
in the small things! For their youthful enthusiasm and innocence, I’m extremely grateful.
I recently received an email from a friend asking to share a poem that will inspire us during this unimaginable time! As I’m not much into poetry but I love good writing. My first instinct was to go to your books still on my bedroom bookshelf. I hadn’t looked at them for quite a while but I was drawn to your 2016 “Moments of Seeing – Reflections from an Ordinary Life.” And there I had bookmarked p. 14 – your reflection on “ bookstores and hydrangeas” where you wrote about ME! You recalled doing your first author event ever at my store – Book Ends in Winchester! I clearly remember your Mom’s special handmade bookmarks for Mitten Strings. For God! You signed my “Moments of Seeing“ with gratitude to you for walking this book road with me since the very beginning!” You made me feel so special ! You & your words are a big reason why I still own Book Ends now 28 years (1992-2020) Now 74, I pray I can inspire someone(s) to carry it on … THANK YOU and your words for being there to help me alone this journey .
Katrina,
These are unprecedented, challenging, anxious times. As always, you put it all into words. Feeling much like you do these days…that, too, is where I am at. Life is far from perfect right now, but each day I get to count perfect blessings…and for that I am most grateful. I am doing what I can for family and friends in order to serve and be a loving reminder of goodness to/for them. I do worry …this is not the way it is suppose to be. But I also know that faith is so important! Despite all, I am seeing a positive movement happening and I pray that this won’t be all for not and that we will emerge a better world for it. I remember finding “Mitten Strings for God” back when it was published! I was in the throws of raising 4 children. It was a beautiful, relateable and poignant read with a message that spoke to me. It remains one of my most favorite books and has a special place in my bookcase. I am so grateful for your words since as well… always so raw, real, intuitive, and meaningful. Thank you for sharing your gift with us. It is one that continues to touch and make a difference. I wish you and yours every blessing. Stay safe and well!
I read your book 20 years ago, when my daughter was a newborn and my son was three years old. I absolutely loved it and it soon became a “well-loved” book, as we liked to call them in our house, because I read it so many times. I have since lent it out and forget who I lent it to (:.
What do I miss? I miss the freedom that I took so for granted, I miss lunches with friends, I miss teaching in an actual classroom, as opposed to online. I miss skin…I miss my people…
What am I grateful for? I am grateful that we are all together and healthy, that we have food in our cupboards and fridge, that I can go for long walks every day. I am grateful that life has slowed down, that we are not rushing from one thing to another and that we spend more time together as a family. I am grateful for rest, and I am grateful, that despite all of this, the world is slowing healing.
I would love another copy of your book. Your second one, “The Gift of an Ordinary Day”, sits on my beside table, and I reread it often. Thank you for your words, for your writing, for your wisdom. Much love.
I am grateful for spring and the return of color to my garden
In the midst of pandemic, I am grateful for the creativity and willingness of countless amazing people to share their phenomenal gifts, talents, music, words, creations, work ethic, knowledge, pictures, songs, and love with the world……….While the “pause button” of life has been pressed, I have been moved with sadness for the bleakness so many are experiencing. I feel sheltered and undeserving to even mention feeling uncomfortable in any way as I have so much—-family, food, heat, water, transportation, clothing, health, safety. While our donations and the countless volunteers help ease some pain for others in need, I remain overwhelmed with my inability to help in some better way. During my moments of unrest and confusion, I have savored the beautiful, endless talents of countless thousands that have been willing to share their gifts with me and the entire planet. How wondrous the words, music, pictures, ideas to help, etc. have felt—-daily I am amazed by the creativity and gifts so many are blessed with. Although I am humbled and feel undeserving, those gifts have uplifted me in more ways than I can describe. I feel like a newborn being snuggled and nurtured with the talents I have heard about, listened to, read about, and seen. The positive stories shared on TV, internet, You Tube, Facebook, etc. ignite the roaring fire of hope within that we will survive and perhaps—flourish to a higher level of humanity! Thank you for being one of those inspirations………it means more than you will ever, ever know! Take care…….Take care……..
I was so happy to see a post from you, as your words always ring true for me and you so often eloquently voice my own feelings. I am so thankful for all that I have, even in the face of disease, uncertainty and the loss of life as we knew it. Your words as always were a comfort as well as thought provoking. These days are anything but ordinary, but each day I strive to rejoice in the little things that continue to feed my soul; A walk with the dog, bright spring flowers, buds on the trees, working on a puzzle with my daughter, reaching out to friends and family I often have been too busy to connect with and time to read and reflect. Your words give me hope that perhaps when we are on the other side of this, we will remember the lessons of living a simpler less rushed life. Thank you also for addressing the guilt I feel being one of the “lucky” ones, being able to stay home, have food, etc.and trying to offer some help where I can. It was a gift to read your words today.
Grateful for your words – they have been inspiring me for years now. You have been a big part of the decision I made to start my memoir blog page 6 years ago, to capture what I feel at the moment, to acknowledge, to express gratitude, to be free while being fully present, hoping to inspire others along the way. Today is another gift. Another day to give and to receive. God bless us all. Thank you!
Katrina, your calm and peaceful voice, no matter what you have going on inside, always is a soothing balm, so needed right now. Thank you very much. I’m struggling with much the same, trying to hold space for both grieving humans around the globe and for being grateful for my own privileges. Trying to give through those ordinary actions shared with friends and neighbors, never knowing if it’s enough. Thank you for reminding us it is. And for the bread recipe – I was tired of baking sweets. 🙂
Thank you for this beautiful post. I have a bit of a different outlook on this very strange time. Just today one of my three adult kids announced she’d had enough family time and would be headed back next week to her apartment and friends out of state. While our lives are absolutely upended now, I have cherished every moment of having all of my kids home together again unexpectedly; every meal, every load of laundry, every ounce of extra work…I will desperately miss and grieve this as this odd moment in our lives has resulted in a profound gift for my family – time together under one roof.
You and your book were a friend to me as I raised my daughters. Thank you!
I am grateful for time spent with family. Time enough to get bored. Time to settle in and rediscover each of my kids.
Count me in and ……What am I grieving? At 51 years old, I am just now coming to terms with the idea that what I have been searching for in a work environment is rare indeed. As we all do, I learned as a child from what I saw of my father’s work place and co-workers. As a young girl, my father had co-workers and bosses to dinner and we went to co-worker’s homes socially and large family oriented work gatherings, like weekend cookouts, camping… My father is equally work and play driven and when appropriate, brought laughter and fun to the workplace. His team would work night and day to get a project done on time because they knew that when it was low pressure time, they could leave early or work would officially end at 3pm on a Friday and downstairs in the foyer would be a wine and cheese post work day social/thank you. It was a large computer software business but the whole building, under my father, was it’s own family. Each member, from office assistant to mail room delivery was valued not only as employee, but a person worth getting to know outside of the standard “company outings.” I am a mental health clinician working primarily now in a hospital setting; a “medical model” for sure; hierarchical authoritarian in structure and orientation. I’ve always been drawn to medicine though after an exploring medical careers experience in high school, determined nurse/doctor were not roles I was eager to pursue. And still, I am someone who wants to make a difference and see emergency mental health as that venue; a place where seeing someone at their most vulnerable moment, might tip the scales in the other direction. A healing direction. And as I write this I realize that I am also grieving that in this environment the health that mental health brings is not as valued as that of medicine. In this setting, mental health is treated as the foster child of medicine. And maybe, after rereading all, what I am really grieving is lack of recognition. A mental health super hero; flying under the radar, but making a difference non the less.
I am grateful for much the same, to have my family with me, my teenage girls, to be lucky enough to be able to work from home, my husband too, and to be in daily contact with my brother and sister.
Thank you for your beautiful words. Though I have lost my job for the time being, (I’m a pre school teacher), I’m grateful for my home, that I have enough to eat, for my health, and especially that my grown children are all still well.
I am grateful that we have ‘enough’ …. of both the tangible and intangible variety
Julie
I’m grateful for the Grace that is my Golden Retreiver, the woods that are my spiritual place, the spring flowers that remind me of new life and my husband who is my home.
I am grateful for the gift of staying home and the essential workers who make it possible. I am grateful for our governor (Ohio) who so far has proven to be compassionate.
Count me in!
I miss seeing my mom. I moved 3 hours away from her this year, and I hate not being nearby to at least drop off a bag of groceries. The other day, I made a huge pot of potato soup, and I wanted to share some with her, knowing she’s alone in the house and could use a home cooked meal. I’d love the opportunity to just leave it on her porch and wave through the glass door.
Love this book… it changed my whole way of parenting my busy and inquisitive little girl, who is now 13. Trying to celebrate each ordinary day, even if the days are anything but ordinary right now. I know she’ll be grown too soon.
I’m grateful for the wisdom of others, other mothers, like you, especially, especially right now. My youngest two are 3 and 10 and they’re driving me a bit nuts. I’m currently escaping the madness by going to the store. Reading your message gives me a sense of peace. I love that story of the mitten string. I got your book from the library many years ago and loved it! Thank you for you!
I still remember the first time I read Mitten Strings for God. Your message touched me. Recently, I purchased it as a gift for my daughter, who just gave me my first grandchild. I noticed she had it on a table with a bookmark in the middle. Even though she’s a busy young mom, your book is speaking to her heart. Thank you, Katrina, for sharing your life with us. It matters.
So grateful for spring wildflowers and birdsongs.
I miss my family and friends. We live across the country from family so I am thankful for the time we spend talking, texting and zooming.
Would love to receive a hardcover version of your book. I have read so many positive comments throughout the last several years for how it has helped others to raise their children with positivity and just enjoy the little things in life. Thank you for offering this giveaway.
Thankful for the ability and grace to be….thankful.
My husband and I both seniors are now starting our 6th week of isolation. Our children are very concerned that we do not go out and about. I am grateful for my two nephews who do our grocery shopping. We are able to keep busy as I quilt, sew and bake. My husband is eagerly waiting for spring to come here in western Canada so he can get out in the garden. I am so grateful for our medical health officers and government officials who have been so supportive of all all people. I am also grateful that the majority of our population abides by the limited contact rules. Hopefully this will soon be over. I am also grateful for the books you have written, having read them all. I would love to have my own copy.
I’m grateful for this pause. Good health, open heart, love and light. Thank you and love to you!
Thank you for the post which I read this morning. These are words I needed to hear. I too feel very lucky as I still have my job and can work from home; my husband and I are staying healthy, and our son in Los Angeles and our daughter in Boston are both staying healthy and are able to work from home. Reading the news and the statistics make my heart just ache, and I do feel guilty but grateful that so far I have not been really affected by all this. So your words struck a chord. I don’t need the book as I have a hard copy of it which I bought in 2000 when it first came out, and I saw an entry for it in my very favorite Chinaberry catalog. I have read it multiple times, and reading your post today makes me want to pull it off the book shelf and read it again. Please keep writing; your words help us so much. Thank you.
Please Count me in.
I feel so blessed to be counted in your circle of friends here. I’ve counted on your words and wisdom so often over the years since the first time I read Mitten Strings for God twenty years ago. You words have been very impactful in my life. Thank you for you and this community you have created.
i was delighted to see your name in my inbox this morning…. certainly looked forward to your perspective on this global crisis. In any event, in the midst of it all, i can write that my husband and I suffered and survived COVID-19…. his experience more noteworthy than mine. I am grateful for that. We are also grateful for a hero daughter in a NYC hospital, who today, sent us a picture of her “mask rash.” If i can… have so much more to be thankful more…but won’t wore ou all be the details
Count me on…and happy anniversary!
You remain one of my favorite writers.
Please count me in.
I really appreciated reading your post. I’m grateful for so much right now. But I feel my heart heavy for what so many people are going through. I’m grateful that I chose to bring our adult son who has autism home during the pandemic. I miss not being able to see and hug my daughter. I’m grateful I’m able to also support my mother right now and also thankful that my husband’s work is considered essential still. Thank you for sharing about your book. Would love the opportunity to win it. Blessings. May you all be kept safe.
Hi Katrina,
I want to say I miss my life as it was but I don’t. I’ve spent the last five months home recovering from breast cancer surgery and then chemotherapy. Just as I thought I was done and could start living my life again we were ordered a stay in place.
I like you (after reading your book) I decided years ago that being at home was okay. That doing things as a family were more important than others. I have two kids 12 and 14. While they have their activities sports, art lessons etc. we always eat as a family. Just about every night. We often have the tv on while eating and talk about the news, school, music etc. It’s a small thing but I am grateful that it didn’t take this pandemic to teach me to stop and slow things down. I am grateful that my friends who didn’t make that decision years ago are now realizing the niceness of it.
So for me I’ll follow the necessary guidelines, continue making mask for local facilities in town, get healthy again. The world will be waiting for me when this all comes to an end. I have a lot to be grateful for these days but it’s simple things like us all being here together. Even if that means everyone in separate rooms coping in our own way.
Well my third 1,000 piece puzzles awaits me!
Sherri
Ps: your blog came just as I was waiting for you to weigh in on things… 🥰
Many of your thoughts mirror my own. “What can I do to make a difference to those who are suffering?” My husband and I are both nurses; he is working and I am not. We’ve decided one of us needs to be home, caring for loved ones and “keeping the home fires burning”. But I must say I feel guilt pangs when I see fellow nurses working so long and hard, at great risk, when I am home. Bless them!
At first I thought that the coming pandemic restrictions would not be hard for me to abide by as the days powered on from the whisper of an unusual pneumonia in Wuhan, China to the actual too little, too late responses of my federal and state governments. I was an introvert after all. However grateful I am that my husband can safely Zoom his course work for medical students from home, and that my college daughter and her belongings were quickly and safely retrieved from her NYC campus, they have indeed come “home,” to my office, to my daily space for solitude, calm and regeneration. So, in the end, we are all sacrificing many things. I hope that like “Mitten Strings For God” these experiences will bring a new understanding and appreciation of our lives.
Thank you for putting feelings into words. I am grateful for seeing beautiful birds taking baths in our koi pond. Hummingbirds flirting back and forth in show to attract another. For Robins gathering twigs and mud making three nests on my porch of 30 plus years – a first Pretty hello tiny Warblers nervously bathing. And for family connections from afar. Stay safe and I hope you continue to find and write our feelings when we cannot. 🙏
One thing is for sure, my life as an octogenarian will be different when this current situation is resolved. Certainly the world will be changed. I am optimistic that these changes will mean better living for myself and the world. You write of your epiphany about parenting your young sons. This is so relevant to parenting in these times, not just in this current situation. The lives of children these years are so different from the growing up years of my two children, now in their mid-fifties. Fortunately neither of their families are drastically affected by the pandemic. Working and studying at home serve them well. Walking dogs and yard work continue as usual. Four college g’daughters are now doing online learning. The high school senior is biding time until the end of her high school years which will not be marked with the usual ceremony. It remains to be seen if she will begin her planned college entrance in the fall. But they all remain safe and well, which is the main thing!! ZOOM keeps us together. Katrina, thank you for your words, as always moving and on target! Be safe and well, Linda in Milford
I miss that my son who finally found “his tribe” in the middle school drama/chorus/band department after years of being an outsider in grade school is now so isolated and the musical they worked so hard to get ready for is now postponed indefinitely. I miss that my sophomore who struggles with depression and anxiety was so looking forward to her soccer season which is her first love and helps her so much, is now cancelled. Yet amidst the sadness, I feel incredibly blessed that our family including my older girls and husbands are all safe & able to work from home. It is not lost on us, that so many others don’t have that luxury. A silver lining for us is my 23 year old daughter and her husband moved back in with us to quarantine here while working from home. Without commutes and hectic schedules we have more time to linger over crossword puzzles or jigsaw puzzles or just sit around the table and share our fears and hopes for the future. It’s the little things, that I both miss and treasure now.
Thank you for your words that resonate with so many of us and give voice to what we’re experiencing. The reflections and words you share are such a wonderful gift! This morning I am grateful for my family, my faith, the beauty of nature and the health of loved ones.
As much as technology frustrates me I am grateful to have it during this time to keep me connected to my grandkids, daughters and students. Both of my daughters are nurses. One in the er and one in the icu so covid is their everyday life. I’m not sure when I will get to see them again in person or my grandchildren but for now facetiming and zoom keeps me connected. I am a fan of your writing and hope to see another book someday. This pandemic would be a great topic for a book, 🙂 Be well and safe!
As I flip through the pages of last year’s planner, I am once again overwhelmed by the fear and sorrow I felt as I prepared physically, emotionally, and mentally for my bilateral lumpectomy on April 30th. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in mid March and all my the scribbles, some neat and others frantic, were reminders of medical appointments, facts, and anguish notes. And then the planner is clean, not a single writing for the next 9 months as I underwent surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiation. I don’t like looking back those months. I have not been able to go outside as my immune is compromised, advised by my doctors and friends, more like comrades who are battling the same disease. I am grateful though that my hair is slowly growing back and my appetite returning close to normal. Emotionally, I am yet frail because everything feels surreal. Reading your essays is one of my favorite things to do because I am reminded of grace and peace. Just being quiet and simple. That is all I can be at this time. I am grateful that I am still around surrounded by my family and loved ones. I look forward to stepping outside for a leisurely stroll when all this is over. Thank you!
Count me in please. ❤️
I’m grateful for this book–it has had a MAJOR influence on the parenting at our house. My kids are mostly grown now, but I still think of all the wisdom in Mitten Strings for God regularly. I’ve bought this book for many and lent my copy out to many. My copy is well-worn and loved…and MISSING!!!! I’m assuming I lent it to someone who needed it so desperately they kept it, which is fine. But I would love another hardback copy–and signed! Please count me in!
I’m grateful for the gift of health. I’m grateful to have a cozy, safe home to shelter in place in. I’m grateful to have my husband and daughter to shelter with. I’m grateful to have all that I really need. I’ve learned how much I took for granted being able to sit in person with friends and other family members. I learned that I really don’t look forward to retiring from my job anymore.
Count me in to win a signed copy of Mitten Strings for God!
I’m grateful that the last voice I hear and the last touch I feel at night are my beloved husband’s voice and touch. And grateful for the very same things being the first of each day. The world is terrible and beautiful all at the same time.
Greetings, Katrina!
As always, seeing your “voice” pop up in my inbox is a gift. Your words and the message behind them continue to resonate with me and I appreciate the familiarity of the community of like-minded moms whom you have touched. There is no question that my life is full of “grief and gratitude”. Having lost my youngest son those years ago and learning to find grace in all the broken spaces in my heart has been a journey in itself. BUT, the beauty that can grow in all those broken spaces is amazing. In some of my darkest moments you have been my teacher and my friend and I am ever grateful for the lessons you taught me about the gifts of each ordinary day. I do have Mitten Strings For God, have had it for a long, long time and I, too, pulled it from my shelf this morning. I will bake the bread and share it and reminisce over all those golden days when my kids were little. Thank you for being the special person that you are!
I am grateful for a warm home, food in the kitchen, and my family and friends are safe and well. I am grateful to see the sun rise every morning and set every evening and know these things are true for one more day. <3
I miss my older girls and my boy living far away. I miss in advance what I imagined my life would be. I am trying wholeheartedly to make space for the unimaginable.
May 1 st is my birthday! Count me in! Than you!
Good morning from R.I. I too am so very grateful for the blessings we have here in our home. We are warm and safe, we have food and all essentials, we are able to communicate with our loved ones easily thanks to technology, and right now, like you, I don’t know anyone personally who has been directly affected by this virus. However, my heart has started to hurt at small moments during the day – I am a special education teacher at a Vocational/Technical High School in MA. I miss my students, my peers, my school, my life with them. I worry about their well being, not about whether or not they are keeping up with their academics, we can fix that when we go back to school, but are they able to socialize at all, are they getting outside and getting some fresh air daily, are they eating? My heart hurts for my students’ families, are they out of work, do they have the money they need for the basics. I have always known how blessed we are in our home, I take none of it for granted – ever, but if I can’t see my students, how do I know they are truly well emotionally and physically. I try and limit my t.v./news watching to just a half hour in the morning and then again at night to stay informed. I also make myself get outside everyday – the weather hasn’t been too cooperative some days here in R.I. but getting outside helps. I read Mitten Strings for God on a whim, from a library book sale purchase and I loved it so much that I have passed it on several times, always asking for it back! I’m 52, my children are grown, I had the gift of being a school teacher and living that teacher schedule with them as they grew up, I knew then and I appreciate now, what a blessing it was to be able to spend so much time with them when we were all out of school. Thank you, for the gift of your book and for continuing to post blogs that give us a chance to reflect and pause in our daily lives. Have a great week.
Thank you. I enjoy reading your messages. Stay well.
A part of me misses all of the events that are being cancelled. I feel lucky to have what I have and not wanting or needing. I feel less stressed because I am not looking at the calendar wondering where we have to be and when. Things get done but are not rushed.
Sometimes it’s still difficult to even believe that this is happening. Everything is changing and will never be the same. I’m scared, but hopeful that we will make it through this challenging experience. I hope it will make us more appreciative and kind.
I’m grateful for hearing the neighborhood children having time to play and ride bikes in our cul-de-sac again. Without the rushed pace of soccer practices, ballet lessons, tutoring appointments and everything else that we all thought were the “necessaries” in raising children. Family time…..that’s what the younger generation will remember about this “stay at home” order.
I’ll never forget watching time and time again your video of you reading aloud a portion of “The Gift of the Ordinary Day”. These days have given us those “ordinary days” back. Hope we can remember how special times are..
Count me in, please!
Thank you! My daughter, Anne was so excited to tell me this morning that after having your book since she was pregnant with Amelia, who is now 16months, she felt drawn to read it. Anne has been feeling stressed and worried about what Amelia is missing out on in isolation and your book has been such a gift and revelation to her! Anne said their morning this morning was so gentle and lovely compared to before. Thank you for writing a book which has proven to be such a gift for these times.
All the very best to you and your family.
I am so grateful for this time with my 3 teenagers. These last 6 weeks have been so precious. I am also grateful for amazing authors, like you! Thank you for your beautiful and wise words. ❤️
I already have a hardbound copy, so no need to enter me, I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your writing. I’m currently reading Moments of Seeing, and read an essay that was just what I needed tonight (before reading this one you posted.)
Thank you for your writing.
I am grateful to live with someone who loves me, to have cats to amuse me, and blog posts like this one to reread when I can’t sleep at4:30 in the morning.
I am appreciative of someone like you that knows just the right words. I am grieving the loss of my Mother whom suffered from Alzheimer’s and Dementia for over 10 years. Spring was our time together to go to nurseries and make plant purchases. A woman of knowledge that withered away to just a body on this place we call Earth. I am so glad that she died before the pandemic was declared. She passed away on February 20, 2020 listening to herself telling stories about her past on one of my videos. She was surrounded by her family. Thank you for your kind thoughts and recipe.
I’m grateful for the daily walks I get to take with my two young daughters.
I miss hugs from my friends and I really miss the library.
So grateful for grandchildren who live just a short distance away who take turns walking with grandma( social distancing of course) and sharing how life has changed for them. They miss their friends , school, sports etc but have also learned the true meaning of time with family
As a mother of two boys, I am grateful a friend gave me your book all those many years ago. Fan ever since. Your writing puts words to my thoughts and emotions. Helped me to be mindful and present long before mindfulness was “a thing” thank you!!
I am so grateful to have read this tonight. I am grateful for the pause this pandemic has gifted us. I am also missing my younger daughter half a world away. I am grateful for the awakening spring. I am missing not being able to reach out and touch my children. I am grateful to be alive.
Dear Katrina ~ thank you for Sharing these thoughts. I find, most especially, that I’m grateful for the ordinary things, those things we may miss out on acknowledging in our busy-ness – coffee together in the morning, hearing birdsong more clearly, on and on. I’d love to make your bread. ♥️♥️♥️
Hi I was thrilled to meet you quite a few years ago @ northshire books ( one of my favorites) while away on a girls weekend filled with spa treatments eating drinking + glassblowing … etc My friend and I share the wonderful memories of the weekend, and we also shared thoughts of the wisdom of your book after coming home and your blog entries, since. You warm our souls, connect us + make us smile, thank you for that. Be well. Renee
PS Im going to try the bread recipe.
Dearest Katrina – I found you through Meditations from the Mat (one of my favorite yoga books as a teacher) and have followed your journey through the years. Mitten Strings is on my shelf, dog eared pages and yellowed with time. It is also on all of my friend’s shelves as gifts to mothers everywhere. My nieces have their copies and I will forever pass on this book to all who cross my path, young mothers as well as seasoned grandmothers. The Gift of an Ordinary Day and Magical Journey also share a spot on my bookshelf. Each one sharing the nightstand at different times in my life. I just love you and the way you express emotions so vividly in a simple sentence. I was with you when the boys were growing up; when you built the beautiful home and when your sweet friend was battling for her life. I feel as if we are friends and pray that one day our paths will cross. Take care of yourself and your wonderful family in this challenging time.’
With deep love and gratitude,
Laura
Yikes – please add me on the follow site. I accidentally hit unfollow. 🙁
I always enjoy reading what you have to say, I especially enjoyed reading that this is the 20th anniversary of your book “Mitten Strings for God”. I can only imagine how you felt when you realized it was fate…that you picked it up that exact day….as if God was speaking to you and honoring you. So many changes in 20 years…kids growing up, life events, career changes…..and now this new COVID experience to remind us what’s really important in life. Thank you for sharing your innermost thoughts. I look forward to reading more.
Grateful for the positive effects on the environment while dismayed that they come at the cost of people’s jobs.
I’m grateful that when I searched for “Katrina Kenison bread recipe,” because I can’t find my well-worn, well-loved copy of your book tonight, that this post from just one week ago popped right up. What a gift. It’s been a decade since I made this (I used to make it all the time), and probably also a decade since I last re-read the book. I’m a grandmother now, and still need its lessons and insights. Thank you so much for all of these gifts. I’m so glad you and yours are well.
I’m grateful for being able to knit a cardigan for my three year old son while he plays with his ten month old little brother who is already walking and super busy and has the beautiful name Jack! It’s a slow project that brings great satisfaction and joy in each stitch.
These days remind me of times I thought I’d never be able to revisit again. Simpler times. Slower living. Hearing so many birds sing. Recently on a bike ride through my cities downtown streets (which we as a family would not attempt if not for the deserted streets) a duo of cello players gave a concert on the sidewalk outside a church and a senior’s home. An older couple from the senior’s home moving ever so slowly danced arm in arm as if on the dance floor at a wedding, as if not on a street corner. I couldn’t help but weep. So many beautiful sounds, sights, and experiences both inside and outside. It reminds me of being a child. It’s freeing.
This might be the time to write you a sincere thank you note for that book. It is still on my bedside table – and has been for the last 7 or so years since a friend gave it to me. We made that bread many times before we found gluten intolerance in our family. The reminder to be here for them – my now 10, 8 and 3 year old people – is more necessary than ever as I despair for the world they inherit. Even so, when I pay attention, they are the antidote to my despair – their creativity and joy infectious. And oh gosh, there are few things as funny as a 3 year old very tiny girlie bossing around her very tall 10 year old brother.
I think that book started the revolution in my thinking – and motherhood has become not one more thing on the to-do list, but a calling. For that, my kids and I thank you.