The Kindness Of People

Something truly amazing happened 2 nights ago on Facebook (of all places lol)!!! But before I go into it, I will tell you what happened that led up to the event. As you know, at the end of last week we had to put our poor old boy Binx to sleep. Well at the start of the week I saw a free cross stitch chart on Facebook, it was of a brown cat sitting on a fence. It was just a simple chart, but when I saw it I thought to myself that I should get it and re-colour it to make it look like Binx, because straightaway it reminded me of him. Little did I know that later in the week we would lose him. :( 

By now you probably know where this story is going.... When I first saw the chart I didn't click on it, I was busy doing something else. I was going to come back to it, I didn't - I completely forgot. It wasn't until the night that we had Binx put to sleep that I remembered the chart, by now about 4 days had passed since I saw it and I now wanted it more than ever. I didn't just want it now because it had initially reminded me of Binx, I wanted it because the cat in the chart was sitting facing away so you could only see its back. It made me think that the cat in the picture was looking off into the distance, into the unknown, into its future... 

So I began scrolling backwards through my timeline hunting for this chart. I couldn't find it. I contacted a couple cross stitching friends to ask if they had shared or liked it and none of them had. I Googled everything I could think of to try and find this chart, I had no idea what the title was or who created it. I used every keyword related to cats and fences I could think of and I came up with nothing. 

So 2 nights ago I joined a couple of Facebook cross stitch groups. I introduced myself and I explained to the group members of the chart I was looking for and why I wanted it so badly. I asked that if anyone had seen it, or knew the title or designer I would be so appreciative. 

Bang! 92 people commented on my post! 3 people sent me charts asking 'Is this the one you're looking for?' I could not believe it! All 3 charts were it! 1 woman who's a cross stitch designer in America, even sent me a message asking me to send her a photo of Binx, and she would make a chart of him for free! I was so blown away!! Seriously, honestly..... I did not expect this response! I am still getting messages today from people who I do not know, expressing their condolences for Binx and telling me how happy they are that I was able to find this chart. I spent the entire night talking and thanking people online for their kindness.

Part of my introduction to the groups was explaining that although the cat in the chart was brown and Binx was black, I had planned on re-colouring it so it resembled him. I also mentioned that since he had to be put to sleep I wanted to stitch it in his memory. As the night went on and people saw my post and saw that the chart had been found and sent to me, they've sent more messages saying that they want to see the finished piece, re-coloured and in memory of Binx.

This is the chart, like I said it's just a simple one but for some reason when I saw it I thought of Binx. All I have to do now is find the time to re-colour it before stitching it. It's strange that I saw this chart of a cat looking off into the distance, facing away, and then what followed. I wonder what this cat is looking at or where it's looking or what it can see? The Rainbow Bridge perhaps?

If anyone else is interested in stitching this piece it's called 'On The Fence' and was designed by Durene Jones. She has the full chart available for free on her her Facebook page along with other charts that she has designed. You can find it here.

As I sit here writing this blog post, I still cannot believe how many people responded to my post on Facebook. These people didn't have to reply or send me the chart. The people who didn't know of the chart didn't have to reply to a complete stranger who just joined their group, and pass on their condolences - but they did. We live in a world that can be a bit crappy sometimes, but every now and then something happens and you really see the good in people.