How Much Do I Love Thee?

Irish Knit

Never had a brother
Never had a son

But on August 22nd 1993
Sean Ryan Burns was born
A grandson…

A blessing…
Words failed me.
How to express my joy?

Sean’s grandmother Burns
solved the problem.

Bonnie went to Scotland
and returned with a pattern
for an Irish knit sweater.

How I coveted that pattern!

Of generous spirit
Bonnie gave me the pattern.
“I’ll never make it,” she said.

I clutched that pattern to my breast
and determined to master its
complicated scheme.
(Way beyond anything I had
ever knit before.)

And I spent
a whole winter knitting
that sweater.

I knitted and counted,
knitted and counted,
working out the pattern
row by row.

Spent hours
assembling
and finishing.

Years have passed.
The sweater outgrown...

But today...
Browning’s poem comes to mind:
“How much do I love thee?
Let me count the ways.”

How much do I love Sean?

An Irish sweater’s worth…

Happy 14th Birthday, Sean!