Many Babies and Great Progress

The good news is that 4 of the women attorneys in our office are expecting babies within a few months of each other. More good news is that the baby shower is Tuesday and I am done with those babies' hats and socks. The best news is that this is a total "non-event" in our workplace conversations, other than discussions of the happy coincidence of the timing and our warm wishes for the parents and little ones.

We are continuing to see progress for women and mom's in the workplace. Our firm has 26 women attorneys, most of whom are parents or will become so. When I started practicing law in Cedar Rapids in 1979, I know there were not 26 licenced attorneys in the entire town and whenever any one of them had a baby, firm managers and other observers predicted that the mom would depart the practice or, at the very least, become a less than "fully committed" attorney. Apparently that has not been the case.

I was so happy yesterday when my friend Sheila sent out an appeal just to the women lawyers she knew in town to raise funds for women displaced by the closing of our local YWCA. The 3 largest firms in Des Moines raised about $6,000 in about an hour and a half, and I think the radio station was pretty happy to hear about the good natured competition among the firms. I would be interested to hear how much was raised by one woman sending one email to her friends.

My main concern today is that the socks and hats fit the babies at some point - I do not guarantee that the socks and hat will fit at the same time. Too many variables.

Handmade Gifts

Here is Simon the cat enjoying the socks I knit the girls for Christmas. I have really liked knitting socks, and maybe the guys will have a surprise in their stockings next year - not as beautiful as these, but much larger!

I remember from my childhood both the stigma and the beauty of handmade gifts. My grandmother and mother were wonderful seamstresses, and I can remember so many homemade dresses. One in particular was a tangerine colored dress with an embroidered yoke, ruffled sleeves and a big sash around the waist. It is the most beautiful dress I have ever had, made by my grandma. That dress and others were, of course, handsewn of necessity, and having "homemade" clothes was not the special treat it should have been. I think of all the time mom and grandma spent sewing, after they did their regular work. I think they both liked it and mom, particularly, enjoyed the satisfaction of finishing an almost perfect garment. Those of you who know Ruth will recognize that she always worried about the imperfect details! I guess I will keep on knitting and giving away - maybe Simon needs his own handknit blanket to lie on so he won't bother other people's socks.