Originally Posted by PatriceJ
i ask everyone to please not assume anything about the reason the original recipient donated the quilt to the post thrift shop. i especially urge you to think before you judge.
we cannot know the whole story. the possibilities are endless.
nearly every one of those possibilities says nothing bad at all about the donor. they do, however, speak volumes about the emotional trauma and - quite possibly - lifelong pain the soldier and family may be facing and struggling against.
we should be thankful, instead, that the donor cared enough to offer somebody else the opportunity to own and love the quilt at an affordable price. let's not forget, either, that the proceeds from on-post thrift shops are used to benefit soldiers and families in a variety of ways.
the donor has, therefore, guaranteed that the intent to somehow honor and serve an injured soldier will be fulfilled.
Thank you for this post. Being a military spouse, I have been forced into the fear of loosing my husband...I am a sentimental person... and as such, I couldn't imagine giving up something that might connect me to my husband in any way if he had not come home from Afghanistan. But having never been in that position (thank God), I can't say that I *would* keep it. I am glad, as a quilter and as a military wife, that whoever received this quilt donated it in such a way that it will come to benefit the military community in some way. That *was* the original intent of it, after all.