Dedicated to a special woman

Yesterday I received the "Sonny hook".

I am honored to be the first person to crochet a square in memory of some one very special.

This woman was the person that was my first example of true compassion. I remember falling while skating and she picked me up and set me rolling along again.From the time I was a young child, I wanted to grow up to be just like her. She was a foster parent for more than 40 years, giving love and understanding to more than 100 children along with three children of her own. She was my first Sunday school teacher and also the first Sunday school teacher for my children along with 100's of others. She was a wife, mother, a sister and a friend. She touched the lives of everyone she met and even those she will never have a chance to meet because of the lives she changed while she was alive. She taught me to believe in myself and to look for the good in everyone I meet. She was my Aunt Leona. She had a liver cancer and then a transplant and the cancer returned overtaking all of her body. She fought to live and to love. She lost her fight in January 2006.

I made a Circle of Friends square in her honor as she had a never-ending circle of friends. The circle of love will continue as long as her memory stays alive.

Thank you Aunt Leona for helping me become the compassionate, loving woman that I have become. Thank you for showing me how to be courageous even when life gives me the cherry pits instead of the cherry pie. You are with me every day and I will continue to try to be as honorable and courageous as you were.

I have other family members and friends that have been touched by cancer. I will make each of them a square when the hook returns to me at the end of it's travels. All of them are important to me but this one was what inspired me to do this project.

The hook is now on the way to Canada. The patina will grow with each square created with the love and compassion of each member. It will have a warmth from touching each of our hearts.

I dedicate this hook to Sonny

Years and years ago when I was 4 and Sonny was 6 we lived up on Deadman Creek (we call it the Crick) on a ranch. We played carefree in those days, unaware of the hardships of life on the Crick.. poor was for the city folk who didn't have a Crick or a Ranch. Ah but we had spring fed water and on special occasions when the battery was charged, we had electric lights.
But we spent some of the most cherished and memorable times of our lives up there, playing in a spring that ran down the hill from the woods to the Crick. We'd float sticks along and look for frogs, and Sonny would keep us laughing.
Ah but years go by and folks grow up, and Sonny moved away. But his infrequent visits always had us laughing again and talking dreamily of the times we had up on the Crick. Sonny had a way about him. He had a serious side, i guess, but to us he was a constant source of laughter, even if he didn't have the intention. His voice and bright eyed smile couldn't help but be infectious.


Sonny died of lung cancer.

One of his most intense wishes always was to come back home to the Ranch. That wish was intensified as he became aware of his ever shortening life. Cancer didn't care. It took Sonny before he could come home.

But Sonny is home now. His ashes are in the monument we built, next to the little spring where we used to play. And though his memory still brings a smile, its always through a tear. And I don't spend a day working on the cabin there, that i don't think how fun it would be if Sonny was there helping.

So I dedicate this hook, and i know Sonny would approve, as our contribution toward a cure, that one day someone else's Sonny will not have to return home in such sadness and tears.

Sonny was a crafter, and made lots of fun things, and I'm sure he would approve of a hand made hook made to travel about on a mission to help find a cure for the disease that took him away.

So please, as you receive this hook and make your squares, think a bit of your own Sonny... I'm sure we all have them. You're doing a good and honorable thing in his memory by helping the folks who work for a cure.

Thank you so much for participating, and thank you for the honor you give me in starting this journal.

Jimbo

A new beginning.

I am starting this blog to serve as a virtual journal as suggested by one of the members. The hook will be traveling to 38 total members with three members on a waiting list, hoping that the hook travels quickly. It will travel to Canada(Reneva) and the following states;
Washington (Needle Arts)
Oregon (vonnie)
Idaho (2) (Jessi, Cookie Hooker)
California (deedes)
Colorado (nana)
Texas (3) (beth eathorne)
Oklahoma (Jazziblu)
Nebraska(2) (Crochet_hen, KathyWho)
North Dakota (Midds)
Iowa (2) (JoBug, Salos)
Wisconsin (3)(KellyA))
Michigan (3)
Indiana (2) (kittyloverdeb)
New York
Connecticut(2)
New Jersey
Pennsylvania (2)
Virginia (5)
Kentucky
Alabama
North Carolina
South Carolina
Florida (2)
before returning back to Wisconsin.

The hook will be given to a name drawn at random from all participants.

Let's get hooking.
http://s200.photobucket.com/albums/aa120/Travelinghook_II/