Saturday 17 March 2012

Teddy Triumph


It’s a sad fact of life that things get damaged and broken every day. Only last night a friend of mine dropped a glass in the sink and it shattered. It was my glass but as she was washing up in my sink I’m not going to complain. Thankfully she was alright and just needed a small plaster.

Deliberate vandalism is another matter entirely.

I found out yesterday, and there was photographic evidence on facebook to support it, that the Olympic knitting on Saltburn pier had been carelessly sabotaged.  Beautifully crafted figures had been stolen and knitting left to unravel.

Not only had the yarnstorming at the pier been touched but a teddy bear’s picnic scene that had been stitched onto a picnic table near the park last year had also been ravaged.

Torn Teddy
This poor pink teddy was abandoned losing its stuffing and unravelling.

Unravelling – now there’s a word I knew well. Unravelling-edges is the title I gave my first blog when Andrew had just died. I felt like I was coming undone…

In the last two weeks I've felt like I'm unravelling and everything is falling apart.  Some threads are pulled tighter leaving me physically in pain.  Other threads are so loose I'm in danger of letting them go.

The picture of the desecrated teddy is an image of how grief feels. You feel broken and pulled apart.

Fortunately the tale of the teddies has a happy ending as they have been rescued and are in the process of being repaired.

The town has taken a great amount of pride in the knitted artwork and there was an outcry at the blatant destruction.

The pier knitting too has been fixed, mended, re-ravelled. Once again secretly and anonymously in the dead of night. Love, time patience, perseverance are the qualities shown to make things presentable once more.

Triumphant Teddy
This teddy cheers and waves his flag triumphantly.

Grief alas cannot be mended quite so quickly but I’m re-ravelling as best as I can, still bearing the scars but resilient. 

Like the teddies I too am embraced by love and friendship that puts me back together.

No comments:

Post a Comment