A Peace Offering

Every piece I do has a story behind it, and this piece is know exception. The story of this piece started many years ago; about 30 years ago to be exact. I was a pretty good kid. I stayed out of trouble (for the most part, those of you who know me, ssshhhhh!) I had good grades, and I was friendly with everyone.

There was this little girl who rode my bus home every day and a lot of people picked on her. She was quiet and quirky, and for whatever reason everyone picked on her. I thought if everyone was doing it than so should I, after all I was cool too! So one day, I got on the bus and started in…a few minutes into it, she started to cry, and I felt awful. I sat down in my seat and vowed to never make fun of anyone again. It didn’t make me feel cool it made me feel like an idiot. I never apologized to her and life went on.

There were so many times over the years that I thought of her though. Anytime someone was bullied, or picked on, I thought of her and how sad she must have been and how cruel I had been. Especially when it was my own children who were being bullied, her plight took on a whole new meaning.

One day I was on Face Book and her name popped up, you know the statement, “So and so is friends with so and so, would you like to friend her too?” I felt so convicted to write her and apologize for my stupid 13 year old behavior, but was afraid she’d either tell me to screw off or think, “Who is this crazy person”, so I put it off. For weeks it weighed on my conscience, and after talking it over with a mutual friend (someone who knew us both) I decided to go for it. I needed to rid myself of this guilt, plus I wanted her to know that what I did was not right, it was not acceptable, and I took responsibility for my own stupidity. I wrote her a long letter, to which she did not respond, she just “friended” me and I whole heartedly accepted. I knew she had forgiven me and I felt humbled.

A month or so later she asked me if I would take her small kitchen telephone stand and turn it into something creative! Once again I was humbled, and honored that she would ask me to do a piece for her home.

So, I drafted up 2 separate drawings and she combined certain elements of both and together we created a beautiful focal point for her home.

I used a crackle finish on the sides, painted two wood embellishments to match the design in her kitchen tiles, and then glued them over the crackled finish. The kitchen and family room were in close proximity so we had to incorporate colors from both rooms to make it a cohesive piece that worked with both color palettes. She opted to have a uniformed stripe going down the front and I decided to have vines and berries adorn the legs.

I’m so delighted that this story had a happy ending. I’m so glad she could look past the elementary school antics and forgive me. And I am so pleased at the way this piece turned out.