“Mom, have you seen my heart?” my daughter asked as she rounded the corner to go search in the kitchen.
“The last time I saw it it was on your bed.” I replied.
“Oh, that’s right!” she yelled as she went running into her room.
My Heart
My heart just happens to be a little, red, fabric heart with frayed edges that was once filled with lavender blossoms – a sachet.
Seven years ago, my husband bought me a delectable box of hazelnut chocolates from France for our sixth anniversary. When the package arrived, the ornate box of chocolates came with a bright red sachet attached to the top. The fabric was thick – maybe a denim or a canvas – and the French lavender flowers that were inside the sachet perfumed the air as soon as I opened the box – a nice surprise.
I remember savoring those chocolates. I’d eat a piece of the creamy hazelnut treat once per day – letting them melt in my mouth. Sharing was very limited. I know my husband had a few pieces, but the kids (who were one and two-yrs. old at the time) shared only one piece. The chocolates didn’t last long, but I kept the sachet in a drawer for years, until my daughter started to sleep with it at age five.
My daughter was going through a phase of being afraid of going to bed.
“What happens if a tornado comes during the night?”
“What happens if our house starts on fire?”
“What happens if a robber comes to our house?”
My daughter would think up every bad situation, and worry herself sick, which prevented her from going to sleep at a regular hour.
My husband and I were getting very tired staying up late, and we were running out of ideas on how to help her through this phase of unrest, until I remembered the red heart.
The Lavender Sachet
One night when my daughter came to our room, unable to sleep again, I went to my drawer, pulled out the heart, and sat down with my daughter.
“Smell it!” I instructed her.
“Mmmm… that smells good.” she replied as she exhaled after taking in the still-sweet scent of the lavender sachet.
My daughter sat quietly as I told her the story of how I acquired the heart.
“Would you like to bring this heart with you to bed?” I asked. “It will help remind you that my heart is with you always.” I offered my daughter.
She and I walked back to her room, my daughter snuggled into her covers, and put the sachet up to her nose to smell the sweet, calming lavender.
It’s been years now, and my daughter still sleeps with my heart. The bright red heart is a little more muted, the edges are a little more frayed, and a hole in one of the seams allowed all of the lavender to fall out. She still has bad nights of sleep here and there, but when she does, you can bet you’ll find the red heart with her.
The Boutique
Just recently, my parents found out that they will be running a small boutique on their farm come May of 2019. I asked my daughter if she would like to make hearts, and sell them at the boutique.
“Yes!” she said. “I can make hearts for other kids that have a hard time sleeping.”
Last weekend, my mother dropped off some of my grandmother’s old thread and some red felt that my mom had found at a thrift store. I ordered two pounds of fresh lavender blooms from France, and a small bag of polyester fill.
First on my to-do list was to hand-wash my daughter’s old heart, stuff the sachet with a little bit of fill and lots of lavender, and stitch up the hole. My heart is now clean, and smelling sweetly of lavender once again.
We have spent the last few days cutting out hearts,
stitching them up using the simple, but showy blanket stitch,
and then filling them with sweet lavender. We have many more my hearts to make before the boutique in the spring, but our hearts are in it – we’ve been enjoying ourselves.
Love
My heart began with the celebration of love – a wedding anniversary, and will hopefully continue on for years – bringing love and comfort to others.
My Heart – the perfect project for this Valentine’s season.
Happy Valentine’s Day to you! I hope you have love surrounding you, even if it is just a small, red, heart to remind you.
Wonderful! I love the story of the valentine heart. But, I am curious about how your parents “found out” that they’d be running a shop. That sounds like an interesting story in itself!
I was thinking about Westfalcon farm the other day. It struck me that I know so little of my grandparents origin stories. I know only of the few years I had with them, not their youths or teen years. This saddens me. Knowing the wealth of history you have at the farm I can’t help but think that story is “our” story. It’s a reminder that the people in our lives have had a much richer history than we can possibly know UNLESS we’re open to finding it.
A tangent, I know, to your lovely “heart” story. But history is on my mind.
Angela, I’d love for you and your family to join us up at the farm this spring. I’d love to show you around and give you THE tour. And, if you’re up some serious chatting, the kids could play, and my mom could talk your ear off about genealogy and how to begin your search. She really is a wealth of knowledge. It really is so much fun to learn about family history, well, for me it has been. I think you’d really enjoy it.
As far as the boutique goes, the city of Cambridge holds a biannual (spring and fall) event called the Unique Boutiques and Antiques Tour. Farms that wish to take place have to be chosen to participate. I believe the organizers allow around 15 farms to take place per year. These farms sell handmade items and/or antiques. We are opening for the first time this spring and will be selling these hearts, barnwood furniture made by my dad, handmade jewelry (my cousin), perennials, mixed container gardens, succulent gardens, real maple syrup, Swedish baked goods, fika (coffee), and watercolor paintings and prints. We are pretty excited about being involved! We’re open May 2-4 and 9-11 if you’d like to come during these days. Should be a good time. And, the other farms involved are all pretty close and all offer special items.
Thank you for your comment, Angela!
What a wonderful idea–and post–Erin! I hope you sell and touch a lot of hearts at the boutique. They are adorable and I bet they smell wonderful. Makes me think of summer, even as we enduring a cold and nasty sleety day here! Funny what kids will cling to. My boys were recently fighting over a potholder my mother-in-law knit out of navy blue cashmere yarn we had no use for (not enough for anything exciting like a hat!). I mean, fighting over a potholder! Anyway, lovely post as usual, and I hope you have a wonderful week!
I think the unexpected is one of the most exciting parts of having kids, ha! Well, sometimes it’s exciting, sometimes not-so-much. I love that your boys were fighting over a potholder. Handmade items are very special. 🙂 Thanks so much for your kind comment, Rebecca! I hope you have a great week as well.
This week we both wrote about our daughter’s hearts…lovely. 💜
One of the best topics to write about. <3
This is lovely. I like your solution very much. I’m also curious about how your parents “found out.”
Thank you, Martha! As far as the boutique goes, the city of Cambridge holds a biannual (spring and fall) event called the Unique Boutiques and Antiques Tour. Farms that wish to take place have to be chosen to participate after sending in an application. I believe the organizers allow around 15 farms to operate per year. These farms sell handmade items and/or antiques. We are opening for the first time this spring and will be selling these hearts, barnwood furniture made by my dad, handmade jewelry (my cousin), perennials, mixed container gardens, succulent gardens, real maple syrup, Swedish baked goods, fika (coffee), and watercolor paintings and prints. We are pretty excited about being involved!
Very creative parenting. I do love hearing stories like this. I can also have empathy for your daughter as I too used to be similar at that age. Monsters on the wall, the wallpaper pattern looked like a face 🙂 Thankfully we grow out of those fears and hopefully learn not to let fears rule our lives!!
Thanks so much for your comment, Suzanne! Those phases are tough to go through, and tough on a parent when we don’t know quite how to help. Luckily it seems to be phases that she doesn’t go through often. Hopefully they will stay away for good someday soon. ❤️
Oh my days I had a tear. Thank you for touching my heart. I would love to have one for my new grand child due 4 March. My daughter lost two last year and this will be their only baby. We don’t know its flavour so we will all have a wonderful surprise. Thank you for sharing with us.
Ellen, I am SO excited for you! Wow, a new pup and a grandchild within just a few short months. What an exciting time, and a time that will be so filled with love. I’m going to have to get a lavender heart to you soon!
What a lovely story and idea! I love lavender and it really is so calming, especially a couple of drops of lavender oil on your pillow to help you sleep.
Nilla, I was just reading about lavender oil on pillows. I may have to give it a go in our house. Thanks so much for your kind comment. Have a wonderful week!
That is so lovely and such a lovely idea.
Thank you, Marian! We’ve doing doing a lot of crafting here, and thoroughly enjoying it.
An arty crafty family, you are great! My son has to create the River Nile and my daughter a pirate ship for their homework… or rather mummy does.. so far I have painted a cardboard box green.. my time limit now is tomorrow.. I thought the River Nile was nearly done till I saw the efforts of another child / parent this morning.. so now need to do better..
Oh no, Marian! I’m sorry you’re stuck with homework. I think that teachers should make it a requisite that students work on their own work – not parents. I mean, parents should help guide when necessary, but kids should do the work. I hope the project go a smoothly as possible!
What a lovely story! You can see that the original heart was truly loved! <3
It's even sweeter than now you are passing this love on to other people. Lavender is such a sweet, calming smell as well, it is all perfect!
That original heart has been very well loved. In fact, my daughter just told me today that she plans to pass it onto her children when she’s older. Hopefully it can hold out. 🙂 I’m so happy you enjoyed this story, and thank you very much for your thoughtful comment. Yes, lavender is heavenly. I’ve been smelling it every day for a week or so now, and I’m thinking going going to have to keep lavender out in the house at all times. Ha!
What a lovely idea – I like that your daughter found such comfort from the original heart and now wants to spread some of that to others. I hope your hearts are a great success and bring joy wherever they go.
What a kind and thoughtful comment, Leanne – thank you!
Awwww This is such an adorable project. Perfect for the season too.
Thanks so much, Rachna! We’ve been having a lot of fun. So nice of you to stop by and comment – I really appreciate it. Have a great week!
I love the idea but mostly the story behind it! So sweet!
Thanks so very much for your kind comment! I’m so glad you enjoyed the story. xx
Erin, you write such wonderful posts and your girl is just delightful. You are definitely doing something right there and should be very proud! There really couldn’t be a better story for Valentine’s week – I have shared your post this week on my PainPalsBlog regular feature “Monday Magic – Inspiring Blogs for You”, Claire x #SIPB
This made me feel all warm and happy, Claire. Thank you so very much for sharing this story. I’ll go and check out your post right now. Thanks so much for letting me know. You made my Valentine’s week. ❤️Xx
I think that might be the absolute best box of chocolate you could every get – talk about lasting!! The heart is special and making them a memory.
Ha! Yes, the heart from that box of chocolates has lasted much longer than the chocolates did. And, it’s brought much peace (and sleep) to our home – a gift indeed. Thanks so much for your kind comment. xx
What a lovely story; the idea of a reminder that your heart is alway with her is so touching. I just love this. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Heidi! Thanks so much for reading and taking the time to comment. We’ve been sewing quite a few hearts, so hopefully others will find them comforting too.