Irene and I have been friends for many years. I am so proud of the success she has become. She has always dreamed of being a flag creator and she has finally seen her dream come true.

    When we were in high school, she was an excellent student but sometimes when you looked into her eyes you could see that she was dreaming about flags. She would draw them in her notebooks and even on her book covers. At lunchtime, she would fold her napkins into little flag shapes and color them with whatever she could find: markers, colored pencils, beet juice and even lipstick if necessary.

    We were in the band together. She played the flageolet (a very little known non-reed wind instrument). We attended all of the high school football games. She burst into tears when the team would run onto the field and break thru the banner that reached across the field. No flag should ever be treated that way!! During halftime, she couldn’t take her eyes off of Old Glory. When the referee would throw a penalty flag, she got very emotional.

    On her wedding day, her theme was F.L.A.G. (Forever Loving And Grateful). Instead of carrying the traditional bouquet, her hands proudly held an arrangement of flags from all around the world. At the reception the tables were decorated with favors that resembled small flagships. The wedding cake was even in the shape of a flag.

    She and her husband, who is a flagman by trade, lived in a mobile home for a few years. She needed more space so they built a new home on Flagstaff Boulevard surrounded the house with yellow and blue European irises (aka “flag”). The driveway was paved with, what else? Flagstone.

    Well motherhood caused a delay in Irene fulfilling her dreams but she never let the idea die. Her first child was named Roger. What a stroke of luck, her second child, Ensign, was born on June 14th, which is of course Flag Day. On November 11, 1993 her life was about to change. We took a flag making class at Jeff’s Sewing Center. The ride over was almost too much for her to bear. She almost got a speeding ticket because she couldn’t wait to make that very first flag. It was a red garden flag with a candle on it. This sounds so simple but this flag was just the beginning of the greater things to come.

    Irene is now the proud owner of Rehman Custom Flags and has made almost 1,000 flags. She is an award-winning seamstress and has not even begun to reach her full potential. I am proud to have been a part of her life and have been able to share in this wonderful dream come true.

                                                                                                                                      Cheryl C.