Steamed...

...and I'm not talking rice.

I remain hideously behind on blogs yet only obscenely behind on email. This morning I discovered an email that about sent my head into 360s. In a word? Audacity. In another word? Impudence. In a final word? A$$. Of course, the sender is 'anonymous' courtesy of an online re-mailer. I know how to track an IP addy but someone apparently also knows they can be tracked. I'm not wasting my energy even trying to figure it out.

A little background: A few of my fellow February LID people have received Chinese lantern quilts from me at referral time. Okay, one was a January LID but the point is that these were people I followed through blogs from the very early part of my own journey. I felt a kinship of being close to meeting our kids at about the same time (okay, so not as much the same time as I would have liked). I pieced the lanterns during a time when I had things going on that kept me in one place. (Imagine that.) So, I worked the pieces until I ran out. Enough tops for 4-5 quilts in all. I CHOSE to do these quilts for the recipients. And, to be honest, it was my way of teaching myself as I draw closer to making my own child's quilt. I had never quilted before and I wanted to prepare for that daunting project.

This is what someone had the nerve to send:

My friend has been following your story for a really long time. She showed me the pretty quilts that you send to select people when they get their babies and thought she would get one too. They look really nice. Do you think it is fair? Others (sic) people who read your blog waited a long time and they didn't get a quilt. It's not any different then (sic) handing out invitations to a party and leaving some people standing there out. I hope someone teaches your baby how to be fair and consider other's feelings. I'm just telling you to think about what you are doing.

Are you kidding me? I've heard whining before but this is just something that leaves me agape. Are you an adult? I have a little concept for the grasping: it is called a GIFT. That means that I can give whatever I please to whomever I please because I WANT to do so. It is not an obligation. I suppose you are of the line of thinking of 'spread the gift'. Just because one receives does not mean everyone does (although I do think I did pretty well covering the earth with pink ribbon ducks a while back - gotta love a good cause). News flash: Life isn't fair. Then again, this is not even an issue of 'fairness'. This is an issue of I wanted to give a gift and I did. How dare you demean that for me or for the recipients. And, yes, I will teach my child to be a strong, independent, thoughtful contributor rather than a sulking freeloader who thinks the world owes her/him everything that others have. Hey, I just heard some young person you don't know on the other coast just got a nice bonus for a job very well done....why don't you send his boss an email letting him know how unfair it was that you have a job but didn't get a bonus too?

Congratulations, you have me spitting nails. But, not for long. I've got better things to do with my time.

PS: Switching topics now...yep, I am seeing all those great little ideas you have sent in. I think succinctly addressing those is going to require some organization and creativity on my part. I'll start digging into those topics this week. It's been a whirlwind of a weekend with lots of fun including a birthday party.