Crocheted sweater for niece, Emily

I made this last weekend for Em.  Hopefully it will fit.  I'll find out on Easter. 

Made from a pattern by Amanda Tipton I found free on Ravelry.

My Grandma Turns 90 this Month

I wrote this article recently for the newsletter of a professional organization I'm in.  I thought I'd share it here, too.

My grandma Evelyn turns 90 this month.  She lives in the house in Creighton, Nebraska, that she and my grandpa built 30 years ago when they moved off the farm.  She gave up her regular garden several years ago, but my Dad built her some “feed bunk” boxes that are several feet off the ground so she can still tend her plants. 

Reflecting on what I’ve learned from Grandma, I think some of the most important lessons have been about relationships and how to treat others.  These skills are important whether you’re dealing with family, friends or co-workers.  All the technical know-how we possess isn’t worth much if we don’t have good relationships with those we work with.  I thought I’d pass along some of what I’ve learned from her.

1)                          Recognize birthdays.  I’ve heard Grandma say that “everyone deserves a birthday cake”.  Acknowledging birthdays represents acknowledgement of a fundamental respect for another person.  To Grandma, a birthday cake isn’t frivolous or just for kids.  It’s a sign of fundamental recognition of the dignity of another person.  In the world of work, acknowledging birthdays with a call, a note or an e-mail can be a way of showing respect and strengthening relationships.

2)                          Share what you know.  Grandma has always been willing to let others “help” and by doing so, learn a skill.  It would have been easy, and probably less stressful, for her to send the grandkids off to play while she made bread or cookies.  Instead, she let us pull up a chair and, in the meantime, we learned measuring, mixing, kneading and baking.  At work, it’s easy to keep knowledge and skills to ourselves, believing that it’s just faster to “do it ourselves”.  But this isn’t our job.  If we’re not sharing knowledge, we’re not performing our job 100%.  Next time you’re about to start a project or go to a meeting, invite someone less experienced along to see how it’s done.

3)                          Recognize a job well done.  This one’s fundamental.  My grandparents didn’t stint with praise when it was due.  It never failed that when we ate dinner with them, a few minutes in Grandpa would look around the table at us and say, “Isn’t this the best dinner? Tell Grandma what a good dinner she made”.  And we’d all agree that Grandma had made a good dinner.  It’s so easy to forget how little things like that make a big difference, especially when it’s something someone does for you every day, like making dinner or distributing the office mail.  Tell that person often that they’re doing a good job and the difference that it makes to you.

4)                          Assume other people’s actions come from good intentions. Grandma is one of the kindest people I know.  I’ve rarely heard her say a bad word about anybody, and if so, only in a whisper.  I strive to be like that, but it’s hard when snark and sarcasm are accepted forms of humor.  It’s easy to believe that others’ actions are motivated by bad intentions, while our own actions are motivated by outside circumstances (a theory called the fundamental attribution error).  It’s like the difference between Theory X and Theory Y in management.  If we believe people are inherently lazy and will avoid work, as in Theory X, we will treat them very differently than if we go with Theory Y and believe that most people WANT to do well.  I’ve found that I feel better and have better outcomes when I remember that people are generally motivated by good intentions.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Gathered Clutch with Flower

I made this for my sister, Sara, based on one she saw at DSW.