Embrace the dance!

I love this etching in the pavement.  Whether your life is a slow foxtrot or a passionate tango, grab it, hold on to it and give it your all.  Whatever your 'dance' is - love it and make it yours.

You may remember I bought some jewellery from a guy at the Christmas Markets, Simon Says Fork Out. I already had 3 of his pieces, but may have succumbed to another 7 whilst he was in Manchester! Might as well save myself the cost of postage. I absolutely love his work and my 1820's fish knife bangle is my favourite.

I saw this post on his Facebook page today and for me it completely encapsulates 'embracing the dance'.  

Taken from the Facebook page of Simon Says Fork-Out:

Some days you have a day that just floors you. Yesterday was one of those days!

I have been bending forks for about 8 years. I've worked hard to carve my own path. I became a trader at Old Spitalfields market because I knew their was a fork bender at Covent garden. I now sell at the biggest festivals in the world and travel the country selling my work.

For my entire bending career, wherever I go, people have walked up to my stall and said "oh I've seen this, I got mine at Covent garden". I have forever lived in the shadow of Steve from Covent garden.

Steve and his wife Jan pretty much started the whole world I'm now part of. Steve passed away this summer after being ill for several years. 

Yesterday I met his incredible wife Jan. She came to my stall in York specifically to deliver one of Steve's final pieces intended for me.
Steve and I have never met, neither have i met his partner in crime Jan. It was like meeting someone I have always known. And thru talking to Jan, clearly Steve and I were so similar we would have been the closest of friends.

Jan tells me that for the past few years Steve had followed my work, and said that if he was 20 years younger that I would be him!

As if to prove that fate plays it's games, whilst talking to Jan on the stall, someone came in with a teaspoon ring that "they got from Covent garden". Like I have thousands of time before, I polished Steve's work...only this time it felt like I was carrying on his work.

To be respected by the person you aspire to be is maybe one of my most humbling experiences of my life.

I'm sorry I never met Steve, but I'm honoured to have met his wife Jan and promise to carry on his fine work.

This is the piece Jan delivered to me from Steve's death bed. It will be the finest jewel for my crown. Officially one of my most treasured possessions ever.

https://www.facebook.com/ForkOut/