MEASURE TWICE, CUT ONCE
Photo courtesy of Darling Arias.
I grew up in a house filled with pins, needles, paper patterns strewn here and there, and the prized tool of an expert seamstress, my mother’s tape measure. She would regularly be seen moving from room to room with pins held tightly between her teeth while she intermittently puffed on a cigarette or sipped a cup of all-day coffee.
The special tool hung loosely around her neck, seemingly always present to precisely mark a hem, arm, or leg pants measurement, was as much a staple as flour, sugar, cornmeal, or milk is to a great southern cook. I never desired to follow in my mother's footsteps in this profession as a seamstress. Still, I was truly fascinated by the exactness of each step she took to create her masterpieces. She never rushed, pressing out each piece of material with the flat of her delicate hands as if ironing with my grandmother’s heavy metal flat iron that seemed heavy enough to break a thick glass table.
From sun-up to sundown, Mom cut, trimmed, and stitched. But her greatest joy came from creating, designing, or redesigning outfits for her only daughter – ME. Every segment of each creation was measured twice (sometimes three times), pinned ever so carefully – each pin evenly lined up like tin soldiers to keep every inch of cloth in its precise place before stitching. It was very rare that we shopped at a store for clothes. During my upbringing, there were few stores where Black people could shop anyway. And I knew, without doubt, that none of the clothes from a store could match the quality of the garments produced by my mother.
For my high school proms, my wedding day, and decades of Easter Sundays, I was laid out, casket-sharp, as the old folk used to say. Every creation was custom fitted, measured twice (sometimes four times), and cut once to perfection. I had many favorites, but my most memorable made me feel like our first “First Lady,” Jackie Kennedy, or my favorite actress at the time, Audry Hepburn, complete with my sweet pill-boxed chapeau with evenly pressed and neatly clipped, shiny rounded bangs. You couldn’t tell me nothing!
Since then, life has taken me in many new directions. Most of my unique trends were different from what my mother would consider fashion-forward. However, what I have taken with me is the importance of measuring twice and cutting once. As an adult, these same lessons of precision were reemphasized when I took a picture framing class in my community as a means of therapy. My teacher's first firm directive was to always measure twice, cut once. This reminded me that doing so would be one of the most important things that would always guide my life. I found that it was also akin to similar other life lessons: look before you leap, look both ways before you cross the street, and count to ten first before delivering a harsh word.
When the day arrived when I surprisingly heard these words slip out of my mouth, “I am a writer,” I knew that I had to learn to apply the rule that had literally been threaded throughout my childhood and into my adulthood – Measure twice, cut once! How critical it is as a professional writer to read and reread everything twice (maybe five times). I've learned that it is truly wonderful to be creative, but also essential to be precise, lining up my words like my mother's stick pins, so carefully placed along the edges of her well-tailored creations; every step in the process is so important to the end product.
I thank my mother and my framing teacher for pressing me to be more mindful of how I bring my creativity alive. Like the Turtle Queen, I profess to be, I relish each step forward, looking in all directions, making sure the path I'm walking is clear and is taking me precisely to the right destination. In this fast-moving world of ours, I’ve come to appreciate the beauty of taking my time, making sure that everything I do is decent and in order – measured as many times as it takes to get all the wrinkles ironed out, and every edge absolutely straight. We all should follow this rule because it is representative of our gift giver – God, and He is always watching us. Like my examples, I strive always, not so much for perfection, but to get as close as I can to excellence – pulling out my measuring stick, using it at least twice, and making sure my product is truly well done.
