I need to share this story from yesterday’s TedxRenfrew-Collingwood workshop on The Crochet Project. It was a definitive moment that signified this project.
During the workshop, I had invited everyone to introduce themselves by saying their name and naming a favourite movie. There were about 15 people in the group and we went in a clockwise direction sharing names and movie titles until we got to the 6th person which was an older lady, whom I won’t share her name to protect her privacy.
The lady first told us her name and then shared with us that her partner had passed away yesterday. She had come to Tedx to support her grand-daughter. She told us that she was an avid crafter and whenever she crocheted, her husband would always sit beside her, praised her and gave suggestions. When she found out that The Crochet Project was giving a workshop at Tedx, she felt the need to participate as a way to remember and commemorate her husband.
Needless to say, we all felt so much pain and sorrow from her and held a moment of silence to honour her story.
In the same group was a little girl who came to the workshop with her dad. They were the first to arrive. She was very shy at first but during the introductions, she told us that her favourite movie was Frozen. I immediately asked her if she knew how to sing any songs from the movie and without any hesitation, she broke into “Let it go”, filling us with much awe.
However, the workshop time quickly went over and everyone had to leave to go back to the auditorium.
Both the lady and the girl’s introduction left a deep impression on me and I could not stop thinking about them for the rest of the day.
After the event was over, I had packed up and was saying goodbye to a friend at the cafeteria when I bumped into the father and daughter again. They told me how inspired they were by the project and would love to get together sometime to learn how to crochet.
Then, they told me something that made my night.
The girl’s dad said that after the workshop, they ran into the lady whose husband has just passed away and she offered to teach the girl how to crochet. They had exchange numbers and will meet very soon. My heart stopped (not to be dramatic) and I held my breath.
This was the moment for me. This was the gift, the whole reason why I started this project in the first place: to foster community interconnections through art. Right in front of me, I witnessed three invisible threads coming together, to be binded to each other. Three individuals of different generations and backgrounds, who did not know each other at first, found a connection with each other simply by sitting on the same table and making art together
I am touched, right to the core of my heart and soul. And I know that, as this blanket gets bigger, there will be many more precious moments like this.
