I keep thinking about Dolly Parton and her coat of many colors. The whole word knows that her mother once made her a coat from many different scraps of cloth. Dolly turned it into a lovely song that gave insight into her life and the love that she had for her mother. She told people that her mother made dresses for her out of flour sacks and I was always able to relate to that in a different kind of way. 

I was three years younger that Dolly was when she died but that puts me into the same age group to which she belonged. If we had gone to high school together I suppose that I would have met her and looked up to her. I think of my own grandmother when I think of Dolly because my Grandma Minnie Bell was a country girl who never learned to read or write but she was one of the smartest wisest women that I have ever known. 

Grandma Little was a talented seamstress. She made dresses for me to wear to first grade without using a pattern. She used flour sacks for cloth but they were not dull. Instead they had pretty colors and patterns of flowers that turned out quite nicely when she had finished sewing the pieces together. The amazing thing is that she did not have a sewing machine. Every single stitch was done by hand and the seams were as solid as can be. 

I loved those dresses which I think sometimes hurt my mother’s feelings because I chose to wear them over and over again while the pretty frocks that Mama had made with soft cloth and a Singer sewing machine often sat in the closet. It was not that I did not appreciate my mother’s amazing handiwork but I was taken by the fact that my grandmother had created something so beautiful out of what had been a bag to hold the flour that she used to make her biscuits and pies. Those dresses connected me with my grandmother in the most unexplainable ways. They helped me to imagine her as a little girl learning the skills of cooking and sewing that she mastered so well. 

Grandma Minnie also made beautiful quilts for me and my brothers. I had one that she called Sunbonnet Sue. Of course it too was made only with her hands and I loved it so. Back when I was a child it actually became much colder from November until March than it does now. I’d snuggle under that quilt and feel so warm. I remember using it when I had the measles in the fourth grade. Of course my mother washed it often so as the years went by it began to fade and fray until eventually I guess my mother must have given it away. I never thought to ask why it disappeared because I was feeling more sophisticated as a teenager and enjoyed the new woolen blanket that replaced it.

Now I think of those dresses and quilts from Grandma and I wish I still had them. I managed to save some embroidery that she did on cloth designed to sit on a dresser. They are very old now just like I am so I keep them tucked away in a safe place rather than using them. They are a testimony to my grandmother’s skill that I wish I might adequately convey to my daughters and grandchildren. 

I’m certain that Grandma Minnie Bell grew up in a house without electricity or indoor plumbing because she often told me what it was like in those days and how they found ways to cope without all of the modern conveniences that I have enjoyed for all of my life. Knowing that Dolly Parton was living under such circumstances at the same time that I was in a house with all the bells and whistles has made me realize that being poor has many levels and mine was actually closer to being in the middle class than hers was. Still I knew all about those dresses made from flour bags because I had some too. 

The only complaint that I ever had about the dresses from Grandma that I so loved is that they itched like crazy because the cloth was designed to be tough enough to hold many pounds of flour without leaking or falling apart. I once got into trouble when I was in the first grade because I unbuttoned the frock to scratch my belly that was turning red from the material. I had try to do it discreetly but the irritation became too much so I attempted to sneak a few rubs hoping that nobody saw. 

We all too often forget that there are still people in the world who have so little. We don’t always appreciate the circumstances that make life more difficult for them. I have encountered many students who would also feel a kinship with Dolly Parton’s childhood. Knowing how wonderfully she navigated those hardships makes me smile for the power of optimism. I suppose that the whole world has been touched by Dolly’s love for people and in many ways it reminds me of Grandma Minnie who was a refined lady who admired and embraced every person she ever met and taught me how to behave that way as well.