The phone rang, and I put down the latest knitting project to answer it. My mother was on the line, and asked what I was up to - I told her about Operation Gratitude and knitting hats & scarves for deployed troops. As the grandmother of a veteran, and the mother in law of an active duty soldier, she’s always trying to find something she can do to help. 
When I went to Florida for a holiday, I brought information, needles and a few patterns, and off she went – trying to bring some friends along with her (they didn’t join the fun)
The other day I got the package of this year’s scarves from her – and she added a note to each one. It made me pause.
Dear Friend; I hope this will help in a small way to keep you warm and dry. The last time I knitted for a soldier was 67 years ago in Germany, when we knitted for soldiers fighting in Russia! Let’s hope that one day, there will be peace.
My mother was a little girl during World War 2, living in a small town outside Frankfurt-am-Main. She, her mother, her grandmother – they knitted for soldiers in the cold of Russia. I and my mother knit for soldiers in the cold of Afghanistan and Iraq. We knit together the wars, the men and women who serve, the families who wait. And we all hope, so very hard, for peace.
KSF
