Well, by now you are all stuffed with turkey and happy Thanksgiving has ended. I know many of us enjoyed our families who haven’t been together in 2 years.
Quilts of Honor ended our weekend with an adventure to Folsom, CA to honor a special veteran. We arrived in Folsom early and met our other QOH crew and family, Becky and Lewie who were attending the event with us. We all decided to go outside the box and eat at the Noodle Company. The four of us were like kids. Took us forever to pick what we wanted to eat. We all felt intimidated not knowing what half the stuff was – we all got something different. Then came the drink decision. Lordy, it was one of these fancy machines that gave you like 25 different drinks. We couldn’t even figure how to get water out of the darn think. Becky and I were laughing, we felt so dumb. You just can’t take the old folks out for dinner at these fancy fast food places. We did enjoy the food so now we will stop when we see the Noodle Company.
We finished dinner and headed to the Harris Center, a big event center on top of the hill in Folsom CA. Doors open at 6pm and we got there early. We had to show vaccination cards and wear masks full time. We were o ask for Connie and Chuck when we arrived as they had special instructions on when and how much time I had to award the quilt.
The place was packed but I had Rue and we seem to always make friends when she is with me. They came and told us they would take us back before they opened the doors as there was a full house and they needed us close to the stage. We were like we were, one leading us in front and another walking in the back. They took us through so many people into a quiet room, told us to sit right here until they came to get us. That was so nice as it was so noisy out in the lobby. Then boom, they took us down a long hall back of the stage to these 5 chairs not 15 feet on front of the stage. We all looked at each like man, we felt like celebrities sitting up there watching all the people come in. We were told it was a full house, 800 plus. First time in two years but they came for Brian. It is a beautiful place and that flag on the front stage was awesome. There were many veterans but we were there for one, Brian Shul, an Air Force Veteran. Brian, a retired veteran, was a pilot who was shot down over Vietnam. He was wounded and burned in the plane. He survived and the Special Forces saved him. They never expected him to live let alone be able to stay in the Air Force and fly the SR71 Blackbird also called the spy plane. Brian now tours the world speaking about his life and the SR71. He is a great speaker and we were there to surprise him with a quilt. They had warned me that I would have two minutes to do this. Now, most of you know me and 2 minutes but I said to myself that I had to do something that would make them remember Quilts of Honor as this was a fundraiser.
So we listened to Brian tell his story and he kept telling us he would have 10 seconds and that he used it often. We had decided Flo would take pictures, Becky would take care of Rue and Lewie would do video. I was taken back stage and warned again. We are honored you are doing this but remember 2 minutes. You know I never really know what I will say. I swear the guy back stage liked to shove me through the door. They handed me the mic and I said, “Brian you have 10 seconds.” Everyone started laughing. He pulled his quilt out and he loves eagles which we didn’t know. Flo had put a Purple Heart on it also. I could see he was taken. He had said many things about the Navy, teasing about them and I said, “Brian, I get it about the Navy too as I’m Army.” He loved it. We were very honored to be able to honor Brian. He’s so deserving. He has been through so much.
There are so many hero’s out there and we hope we can keep reaching out to them. I will mention that most recently we have received Quilt Request for over 300 – little overwhelming to say the least. They are from all over the United States. We will be mailing them. So, we are asking for your help. Please keep the sizes minimum 50” x 60” and no bigger than 55” x 65”. If you know any longarmers, we could use the help. We can always use helpers. To those of you who have kept us going these past two years, THANK YOU so, so much. This was a great ending on Thanksgiving weekend.
Many blessings as we start into the Christmas season,
Gail
Quilts of Honor 