Major Laura in Iraq
I
never expected the type of response I got back after sending out the
newsletter about Major Laura. Hundreds of emails, emails such as I have
never in my life received. Your gratitude towards those who serve, the
generosity of your knitters’ hearts, the touching stories about heroes
in your own lives…my friends, you are simply amazing.
It took me days to read all the emails, mostly because I had to take
breaks to compose myself (and to get a fresh supply of tissues—some of
your emails were extremely moving). Knowing that I could not possibly
respond to each and every email individually, as I wanted to, I finally
realized that the best thing I could do was to say this:
I am proud to be part of Knitting Daily, because YOU are Knitting
Daily. Thank you for being who you are, and for sharing yourselves—and
your knitting lives.
As so many of you observed: War is complicated, heart-wrenching,
frightening; but a soldier who knits—after work, in her camoflauge
gear---to help deal with the stress of being far from home…this is
something we can connect with. Soldiers are not “just like us,”—they
ARE us. And so we respond, as knitters will, with hands full of sock
yarn and hearts full of compassion.
Many, many of you asked for Laura’s email address so you could write
to her. Dozens and dozens of you asked if it would be possible to send
Laura and her fellow soldiers sock yarn, needles, knitting books. I
forwarded those emails on to Laura so she could read your expressions
of support in your own words.
Many more of you offered to knit socks or other items for the
soldiers who might not have the time or ability to knit for themselves.
There are many knitting charities who have the resources to be able to
help you get hand-knitted items to folks overseas. Laura suggested
Afghans for Afghans (www.afghansforafghans.org); their website explains
ways to donate knitted items of all kinds (not just afghans!) to those
whose lives are touched by war. One of our Knitting Daily members wrote
in to suggest the Yahoo group Socks for Soldiers
(groups.yahoo.com/group/sockforsoldiers), a group started by the mother
of a young man in the Air Force. If you want to say “thank you,” check
out www.amillionthanks.org--they send your thank you cards to the
troops.