There is a secret appeal in making something yourself. The investment of our time, and focused attention mean more than can be easily bought online. 

The girls baked cookies this week, and although I cannot find a way to quantify taste, they sure were sweeter than the ones in a box. Each one was placed on the tray just so, with enough space to expand in the warmth of the oven.

I am finishing up the sixteen lap quilts for our daughter's wedding this fall. The stack of copper and green and gold makes me smile wider than seeing the linens at the department store. Each one took many steps to create, with her fiance leaning over his design table, several shopping trips for the right fabrics, cutting out pieces, applique and piecing, sandwiching the three layers, quilting, and binding. It was not as much about speed as about creating. 

This Sunday in church the musicians played a song John and I wrote. I love most of the hymns that were included that day but I had an extra dose of pleasure with the one about Hannah. I remembered listening to John as he came up with the idea, and verses about how she longed for a child. We sang it together often after dinner after it was finished, not as a performance but because we enjoyed it. 

Your relationships do not come prepackaged in a box. It would be nice if they did, but then again maybe it is better this way. We can be sure to give each other enough space to grow.