Calendar Books by Allen James' reading for June 9th...from our featured calendar book for 2014, "The Journey", "Sleep under the quilt your mother made by hand for you" (James, 2012).

Allen James' calendar books are intended to encourage positivity and to support the reader's journey to personal success, thus are to be interpreted in a personal manner by each reader.

I emphasize this because today's reading could easily get a response such as, "My mother never made a quilt for me". A personal interpretation would look at it from the point of view we should cherish those things significant others did for us out of love, whatever they be.

I recall when I was a child sleeping under a quilt my grandmother hand made for her grandchildren. I don't know when she gave them, whether as birthday presents, Christmas gifts, or just because she knew we needed warmth in the cold of Kentucky winters; but I certainly remember the warmth they provided.

People just don't quilt by hand much these days. Which is what makes today's reading even more special to me.

At 61 my mother was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. She was given 6 months to live. For the year prior to her diagnosis she spent every evening sitting in "Momma's chair" piecing together material swatches and then quilting those swatches into quilts. No one knew she was ill, not even she. Yet it was as if instinctively Mom was aware her days were numbered.

That Christmas she gave as gifts quilts she had sewed by her own hands to each of her 6 children, as well as one for my girlfriend at the time.

What a gift. A mother's love. A symbol of the warmth she had always provided and the comfort she wished to provide even long after she was no longer with us.

When I sleep under Mom's quilt I can but imagine with each stitch her nimble fingers working diligently to complete each quilt for her beloved children.

She passed away the next March. This symbol of her compassion will bring me warmth and comfort for years to come. Over 20 years later I still sleep under the quilt my mother made by hand for me. Life truly does continue after death.

What's your special something which memorializes your loved one?

Keep looking up. AJ