Brother has a blue blanket his Oma knit when he was born.  She made one for Sister’s birth too - pink.  Each was one of a dozen my children received.  Nothing special about a blanket, right?  Well… I am convinced Oma did something to those blankets for as time went by they changed.  They began to have special powers.    First, I noticed that a babe wrapped cozy inside would almost immediately fall asleep.  This continued even as the children grew.  Then these same blankets started participating in play time.  Capes, magic carpets, tents - they could turn into more things than Diego’s Rescue Pack.  And somewhere between, they gained the power to dry tears.  No, not just remove the wetness - any old piece of cloth can do that.  They dried the tears at the source.  Whatever the problem was, a quick snuggle would cure it.  At the height of the blankies’ power we never dared go on a trip without them.  Panic set in if nighttime fell and they were lost.  And wash day was most dreaded.

Fast forward to today.  I am taking a load of laundry upstairs and pause to tell Brother where I’m going.  “Oh, oh, “ he says, “Mine Bankie waundry too.”   You could have knocked me over with a feather.  Are we thinking of the same blanket here?   Did my Linus just say what I think he did?  A little clarification just to be sure then to the washer we went.  Brother helped with all the clothes then unceremoniously tossed Bankie in too.

Part of me knows not to read too much into this.  That blue blanket has a long life yet.  Sister still sleeps with hers.  But another part of me sees an ending.   The end of a time when such simple magic can solve anything.