Stalking the mail carrier

I've been tracking a package for a couple of days, and today it arrived!

There is no happier moment in a stitcher's life--other than taking the last stitch--than opening up a kit with all the goodies for a new project.

This is a Marsha Papay-Gomola project from Shining Needle Society. It's been awhile since she offered a class, and I was thrilled to see a new offering.

Now, am I going to start this right away? Probably not. I want to finish Cherry Berry and go back to the Goldwork projects. But I will have it waiting when I get through with those.

Or it could be part of the retirement stash. Years ago, I met a woman at Christmas in Williamsburg. She had a PhD in neuroscience and did research for a government agency. We sat next to each other in class, and then I ran into her at the boutique, where she had a stack of projects that she could barely see over. I made some comment along the lines of she must have plenty of time to stitch--and she said, no, not really. This was her retirement stash.

Huh? I brilliantly said.

She told me that she might be able to finish one project a year with her work schedule, but she used her vacation time to go to classes and accumulate projects. Then, she said, when she retired, she wss going to stitch all day every day.

Apparently this has worked out for her. She retired at 70, lost 50 pounds because she finally had time to take care of herself, exercises for about an hour every day, and stitches the rest of the time. She has lunch with friends and goes to concerts and plays and does exactly what she enjoys doing. She is now 80 and finishes something like 40 projects a year.

I think I want to be her when I grow up.