All throughout life I have been involved in many different activities, especially in high school. I had spread myself very thin through difficult honors classes, playing percussion in many different bands both with friends and in school, running on the track team, and a whole slew of other goodies such as snowboarding, hanging out with friends and family, and all that jazz. From participating in so many activities I was always fighting to stay awake in my classes, which is still sometimes an issue today but that’s a story for another day. No matter how hard I would try, I just couldn't manage to keep my eyes open.
I did my best to participate in my classes to stay attentive, but sometimes I was just so tired that I didn’t care about the class anymore and just checked out for a wee bit. You would think that sitting in a desk would make sleeping uncomfortable but I quickly developed the skill to sleep in any situation imaginable. A contributing factor to such a fine tuned skill of sleeping anywhere, was probably the fact that I slept on the floor for a good portion of my life, also another story for another day but more details are available upon request.
In my junior year, I had a history class which was exceptionally hard to stay awake in. For some reason it felt as if the teacher wanted me to sleep, either by the way he’d speak or how he seemed to use an excessive amount of films in teaching the class, it was impossible for me to remain conscious, especially with the lights off.
I didn’t enjoy sleeping in class, I knew I needed to pay attention and I truly did want to learn the content being presented. I respected my teachers and wanted to know what they had to say, but tiredness would overcome my will to be a good student. This epic battle between class participation and sleeping was starting to have nasty effects on my grades. Just as in real warfare there are unwanted civilian casualties and destruction of urban areas, my homework assignments and, ultimately, my grades were innocent sufferers to this intense fight.
As the year went on, I continued to sleep and my grades continued to hang out towards the lower percentiles of the class until one day, liberation from such sleep slavery came into my life. During a session of nap time, also known as history class, I stirred in my deep slumber and managed to catch a glimpse of my friend, Jeremy. Something about him caught my attention. It wasn't what he was wearing, it wasn’t what he was saying, it was what he was doing! He looked so focused and at the same time, satisfied. He was looking down at his hands as they moved in the same pattern over and over again with yarn slowly feeding in. “Dude, are you crocheting?” I asked, very surprised and impressed. “Yes, I sure am.” He replied. I couldn't believe it! How odd, he was just sitting there in class crocheting away at an afghan. I was suddenly overcome by a strong desire to learn how to crochet as well. “That’s way cool!” I exclaimed, “can you teach me?” “Sure.” The next day he brought some extra yarn and an extra crochet hook. It was a slow learning process and Jeremy was very patient with me. I can’t remember what my very first creation was but I do know that it ended up being hideous and non-functional, but I didn't care, I was hooked! (pun intended) As soon as school was over that day, I longboarded over to Hobby Lobby to buy my own equipment and embark on my crocheting journey.
Day after day I would crochet. I started out making countless headbands and other miscellaneous accessories such as phone covers, iPod cases, hats, and my personal favorite, the pen pouch. It was a nerd’s dream! Beautifully hand crafted and custom made to hang from a belt, holding all writing utensils and securing them with a fashionable button. Class went from being nap time to production time. My excitement and enthusiasm for crocheting scared away all thoughts of sleep giving me eight hours of crocheting a day, a perfect amount of time to get my projects done. A nice side effect was that I could now listen to the lectures from my teachers as I crocheted instead of having strange dreams with mixed academic tangents and philosophies.
My grades actually started improving as I was now more attentive to the lectures and even started to participate more in class, even though most of my participation came from pop-off comments to get a little giggle or chuckle from the sweet honeys in the class. It was nice to have so much time to crochet, it’s unbelievable how much kids would pay for just some simple hand-made item; better yet though, I was learning.
Crocheting became a big hit, Shane, another friend in my history class, soon asked for a crocheting lesson and then it wasn't much longer before it was the new fad. Our senior year, Jeremy, Shane, and I created the crochet club which was basically an extra hour or two after school where we would get together to crochet and watch movies such as Lord of the Rings or Star Wars, and other excellent films. Strangely, the club mostly consisted of wrestlers, football players, and about half the soccer team... with a few others.
I have since learned how to make many different projects including jackets, shoes, blankets, and quite a few others, I even taught my grandmother how to crochet, go figure. I greatly enjoy crocheting, there is something therapeutic to its monotonous repetition and I love the freedom to create whatever I want as long as I can figure out how to do it. The best part about it is when I’m having trouble staying awake, I just need to grab my hook and go to work. Thank you Jeremy!
