I just dropped off my daughter for a sleepover at camp. As soon as she entered the room a friend of hers ran over with her pillow, exclaiming, “Look, I still have that pillowcase you gave me for my birthday that your mom made!” It gave me warm fuzzies – because we gave her that pillowcase five years ago, and she’s still excited about it.
My children often give their friends pillowcases I’ve made as gifts. We pick out the fabrics and I whip up case (usually the morning of the party). Often the initial reaction of the recipient is, well, polite pleasantness. What’s a pillowcase compared to the latest game/toy/gadget that awaits in the unopened presents? But my daughter’s friend is not the first, nor do I suspect will she be the last, to come up to me years later and say with enthusiasm, “I still have that pillowcase you made for me!”