My grandmother's quilt of many colors is a gift for the ages

There was a turning point in my relationship with this quilt. One day, when high school was horrible and everyone seemed mean and I felt all alone and unloved by the world, I lay on my bed under that quilt and I stared at its pattern through my tears.

I noticed the bright yellow swirls and the aging swatches and I was captivated by my imagination of their stories. They spoke to me of happiness, of history, of a presence beyond the pain of teenage years.

Somehow, through an inanimate object made by the hands of my grandmother decades before, I felt loved.

Amy Choate-Nielsen is a full-time mom and part-time writer. She spends her days at the park and her nights at the computer. She writes about family history and her quest to understand life while learning about her deceased grandmother, Fleeta.