In Part 7, the God Bless America quilt was delivered to the Massachusetts Fisher House in Boston. The plan was to have a grand event and send-off, but the Director asked if Boston could have the quilt. Headquarters not only agreed, they approved. So, Milly and the children gave the quilt a memorable farewell, including singing our book for soldiers staying at the Fisher House.
Part 8
A month later, Beth who is the Director at the Fisher House called me.
“Jennie, the Fisher House will have its one-year anniversary in July. When that happens, members of the Fisher family come to celebrate, along with many others. It’s a big event.”
The only celebration I knew of was that Congressional Medal of Honor recipients attend the grand opening of a new Fisher House.
Beth continued…
“We would like you, Milly, and the children to be the guests of honor. The quilt will be the main event.”
Gulp! I was taken aback.
“Beth, that is wonderful, but…” I didn’t have a chance to finish the sentence.
“The invitations have just gone out. The quilt is the main feature on the invitation.”
Oh my goodness. There it was, Home Sweet Home, right on the invitation.
I couldn’t wait to tell Milly.
“Jennie, there’s one more thing. We’d like the children to sing “God Bless America” and present the quilt to the Fisher family and guests.”
Another gulp! This was big. Much bigger than I expected. It took a while to sink in. The quilt was as important to the Fisher House as it was to Milly and to me and to the children.
Milly was as surprised as I was… and just as delighted.
I notified families. Many children were able to attend. We all stood in front of the quilt, in front of a big audience. Big. I gave an impromptu speech, telling the guests about the evolution of the quilt. I told them about the children singing, and how they needed more. I told them about Milly and how she made the words come alive with the quilt.
You could have heard a pin drop. They wanted more.
I decided to recite the words to the song and point out each part on the quilt as I said the words. I was all over the place- talking, walking and pointing. It was much the same as when I read aloud chapter books. No words were necessary from the audience, their faces said it all.
Then Milly and the children sang their hearts out. Oh, how they sang! We received a huge round of applause. That broke the ice, and the thanks and handshakes and smiles exploded.
A Fisher Foundation Vice President approached Milly with a handshake, pressing something into her hand. I knew exactly what was happening- she was giving Milly a Command (Challenge) Coin! I was humbled to witness this happening. I watched the ‘secret handshake’, which appears to the naked eye to be a simple exchange of respect, yet holds the surprise of the coin for the recipient. I understood. I told Milly all about Command Coins afterwards. This would mean far more to her than I realized. Her last words to me years later were about that coin (later post).
She was still the same Milly on the inside. I asked her to do another quilt
about our school, our towns. Everyone wanted a quilt to hang at school.
The next adventure began. Stay tuned for Part 9.
Jennie
A Teacher's Reflections 
It must be dusty in my office room Jennie. My eyes are watering! Looking forward to Part 9.
Best wishes, Pete.
Awww… that’s so nice, Pete. Many thanks!
Wow! That was moving! I also needed a tissue.
😍
Jeepers Jennie, it’s so emotional! 🥲
I felt the same way!
wow, this is so amazing and utterly wonderful! what a perfect audience and place to be. i love how you were able to improv and the crowd obviously loved it and could not get enough –
I can be the queen of improv! It really was wonderful, Beth. Thanks!
next career for you, stand up comedy!
Oh, what a heartwarming post! I smiled all the way through it.
I’m so glad, Liz! Many thanks.
You’re welcome, Jennie.
What a story! Ups and downs. Heartwarming but sad too.
BTW, Jennie, lately your posts have been appearing in huge print and I have to move the contents back and forth to read them. Have you done something to the settings? Yours is the only blog that does that and I don’t know how to make it go back to normal size. Any ideas how that happened?
That is crazy! No one else has mentioned this, and I haven’t done anything. I’ll let the Happiness Engineers know. Thanks!
That’s almost certainly something on her end rather than yours — since your site looks normal to everyone else and she’s the only one reporting it, the issue is most likely with her browser’s zoom level.
They don’t think it’s a problem on my end. Here’s what WP said for you to do:
The easiest fix for her: in her browser, press Ctrl + 0 (Windows) or Cmd + 0 (Mac) to reset the zoom back to 100%. Does that help clarify things?
Thank you! That fixed it. It was the only blog that was consistently oversized. All the others are fine. But this Control + 0 did the trick. Thanks again!
I’m so glad I reached out to the WP Happiness Engineers. Hooray that it’s fixed!
I’m glad you did too. The fix was immediate when I tried it. It was great to see it happen so fast.
Hooray!
A great story, Jennie. That command coin was the topper.
Thank you, John. Few people know or understand command coins. Milly did not, which made it a topper.
😊
I wish I could have been there to see everyone’s faces. It was a great idea to point to the specific sections of the quilt as you read the words to the song. By that point, how many times would you estimate the children had sang the song?
You would have loved seeing all the faces, Pete. I’m glad I pointed out all the sections. I remember the first time I saw the quilt. It was a lot to absorb. Good question on how many times the children had sang the song. At least twice a day. So I have to backtrack to when the passion for the song started. 8 months. Roughly 20 weeks excluding holidays. That’s 100 days, so 200 times of singing. And that doesn’t include singing at the Intrepid or at the Fisher House.
👍I knew it was a lot, but I never would have guessed that much.
I may be off, but it was a lot!
Aging and getting sick is hard. Millie achieved a lot with you in the later part of her life. Amazing that she got that coin 🧡
Yes, she did, and it was amazing that she got that coin. The good news is she did so much more. I think you will enjoy those stories.
A heartwarming remembrance of a housewarming event/celebration! I guess that means the Fisher House is now 16 yrs in operation…I remember all up to now except about the Challenge Coin. It’ll be tough re-reading about Millie’s passing but when stories are told, her spirit lives on…
I’m glad it was heartwarming for you, too. Yes, 16 years. I remember walking into the building and seeing a photograph of the Medal of Honor recipients at the groundbreaking ceremony. I had no idea the Fisher House was new, and that there was a one year anniversary celebration. The Challenge Coin is one of Milly’s favorite memories. Laura, there is more to come before Milly dies.
Still loving reading this story. I look forward to each part!
I’m so glad, Karma!
What a touching story, Jennie! I love it.
Thank you, Marsha!
My pleasure!
Wow fantastic post Jennie. Congratulations to all and Milly too.
what a great way to celebrate the quilt and sorry Millie had kidney failure – and whew – see you in the next part
Hi Jennie, thank you for this moving chapter in this story!
You’re welcome, Charles. I’m so glad you liked it!
A beautiful story, bittersweet.. 🥰
❤️
Oh goodness! 💞
I know!