Goodbye, Friend. Hello again.
On Saturday, October 28, 2023, two memorable events happened.
1) We lost a Friend.
Friends actor Matthew Perry passed.
I never met the man in my life, but the news still hurt. In last month’s “Knitting Movie Knits” post, I suggest:
The goal of a story is to create an emotional connection with the audience. Well-crafted books and movies help the audience to create a bond with the characters, setting, and plot.
I would take this statement a step further, and claim that through movies and TV shows, the audience does not simply form relationships with the fictional characters, but also with the actors themselves. That relationship is nuanced. While the majority of us don’t rise to the insanity of stalking actors, we do tend to see actors (and on-screen personalities) as people within our sphere of relationships.
If so many people didn’t do this, then the idea of “celebrity” (a.k.a. people you have never met care about your life and what you have to say in interviews) would not exist.
While I could, I won’t dwell on a heartfelt commemoration of Matthew Perry. However I will acknowledge the fact that during the coming-of-age season of my life, I spent my Thursday evenings enjoying the antics and adventures of Chandler Bing and his Friends. He and his Friends hung out with me and my friends, and so I’m sad at his passing.
I did not know about Perry’s death until the next day, so I can say that Saturday the 28th was an unmarred and lovely day for me.
2) I found a friend.
I spent the day with my family exploring Charleston, SC. I had only driven through the city once before, so this was my first real chance to get to know the ancient lady. We explored a variety of places—Charles Towne Landing and the Charleston Tea Plantation were among my favorites. However my most memorable stop of the day was…
The Angel Tree.
That morning, I Googled “free family activities” for the area, and the Angel Tree was on the list. The helpful blog also suggested a trip to the Charleston Tea Plantation since the two were close. Give me the opportunity to enjoy the shade of a sprawling Live Oak Tree followed by a beautiful, informative, and tasty trip to a tea factory, and I’m in!
But under the Angel Tree, in just a few of the 17,000 square feet of shade, I found a friend. A decades-old friend. A friend I felt sure I would never see again.
There stood my former choir director-turned-colleague Paul. He lives even farther from South Carolina than I do, and was only there for a brief tour bus stop. Somehow, we both ended up in the same place at the same time.
We hugged, we chatted, we caught up, and then he was back on the bus. We didn’t have time to take a picture or exchange contact info. But it’s ok. That sense of kismet along with the fulfillment of finding a friend I had no expectation of meeting again filled my proverbial cup. Even now, the memory makes me feel light and happy.
The day turned yin and yang for me—the light (still) balancing the dark.
Crafting Imitates Life
These experiences of my Saturday emphasize the reality of seasons of relationships throughout a lifetime. Friends come and go. Sometimes I miss them—a little or a lot. (Sometimes not at all, and that’s ok too.)
I find that my crafting life similarly cycles through seasons. Crafting seasons tend to focus on types of projects, or techniques, or projects’ varying levels of difficulty. And while I realize that I own the control over what yarn or pattern I use, sometimes other people’s decisions affect my Knit Life.
New yarn dyers enter the scene with fantastic yarns, or others move on to other careers. Patterns or techniques go in an out of vogue. My own Knit Moods undulate over time, dictating a shift toward or away from types of projects or yarns.
This is life, both knit and not. The more Life Seasons I pass through, the more I appreciate the joy of unexpectedly revisiting past seasons, as well as the grief in mourning their ultimate passing.
Today, Friends, I wish you joy.
And lots of knitting!
Find Mountain Song Designs patterns and inspiration….
If you would like to read the rest of my Movie Knits post, here you go!
