sharing stories, trading feathers

One of the programs at a storytelling workshop last year involved movement and dance, and at the end when we were all in a circle, the leader handed us a bag of feathers and we were to select one. There were a variety of feathers, some white, some brown, different sizes. We each selected carefully, I suppose using whatever criteria appealed to us. Then, after we had all made our selections, we were instructed to trade feathers with the person next to us. Everyone complied and nobody complained, but inside I was disappointed not to be able to keep the feather I had carefully selected (silly, I know) but instead had relinquished it to someone I had no connection with. Maybe it would have felt differently if we had bonded as a group longer than about an hour and a half or had actually been involved in group exercises rather than individual interpretations. I felt bad about feeling bad until later, the one person I knew from the group expressed disappointment that she didn't get to keep the feather she selected. Unfortunately we weren't next to each other so we didn't have each others' feathers.

I don't know what she did with her feather but I kept mine on my desk by my computer for about a year until one day I decided to make this little quilt with it.