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Where The Heart Goes .com
Where The Heart Goes .com
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Origin
I made my first clay heart in the summer of 2008 for my mother who was in the hospital. It was the month before she moved in with me, and before I had made the decision to leave my career for a time to look after her. I remember the night I crafted her heart as if it were yesterday. I spent two hours with it in my hands thinking about the love we shared; worried that soon I would lose her. Truth be known there were probably a few tears caught in the clay. When I gave it to her I told her it carried my love and even when I wasn’t with her at the hospital as often as she needed me, she would feel me close if she held it in her hands. Eight months we spent together before her passing. I still have that heart. It travels with me whenever I deliver talks about our story.
It was a few months after mom moved in with me when I started making the heartpasses. The first heartpass was for a woman named Jessie who ran a hair-styling salon at a business called the Cat’s Meow. Jessie had extended kindness to me when I had forgotten my wallet after a hair trim. I left her salon wondering what I could do to thank her for her generosity. Because I worked with clay making my own jewelry, I decided to make a small heart. I added a card and called it a heartpass telling her it was meant to travel a journey of kindness and she would know by the feeling in her heart when it was time to pass it on.
Later that day I was in another business in our town discussing the hearts with its owner. She said she wondered where the heart would go. Immediately I thought that is the name I will write on the cards. And that is when the name of Where the Heart Goes was born.
I started making heartpasses to carry in my pocket to give to people who were kind to both my mother and to me. Mom always asked to soften the clay and I was grateful because every heart contained a part of her and of me. Every week we had countless caregivers who came to the house to help care for Mom. It was great to be able to pass on our gratitude and in turn inspire those hearts to be paid forward to other Champions of Kindness. What started out as an act that was meant to be extended to people caught being kind soon turned into something given to people who were experienced challenging times. I was amazed at the reasons the heartpasses were being shared. After much thought I came to realize it was about people connecting; simple but very powerful.
It was a few months after mom moved in with me when I started making the heartpasses. The first heartpass was for a woman named Jessie who ran a hair-styling salon at a business called the Cat’s Meow. Jessie had extended kindness to me when I had forgotten my wallet after a hair trim. I left her salon wondering what I could do to thank her for her generosity. Because I worked with clay making my own jewelry, I decided to make a small heart. I added a card and called it a heartpass telling her it was meant to travel a journey of kindness and she would know by the feeling in her heart when it was time to pass it on.
Later that day I was in another business in our town discussing the hearts with its owner. She said she wondered where the heart would go. Immediately I thought that is the name I will write on the cards. And that is when the name of Where the Heart Goes was born.
I started making heartpasses to carry in my pocket to give to people who were kind to both my mother and to me. Mom always asked to soften the clay and I was grateful because every heart contained a part of her and of me. Every week we had countless caregivers who came to the house to help care for Mom. It was great to be able to pass on our gratitude and in turn inspire those hearts to be paid forward to other Champions of Kindness. What started out as an act that was meant to be extended to people caught being kind soon turned into something given to people who were experienced challenging times. I was amazed at the reasons the heartpasses were being shared. After much thought I came to realize it was about people connecting; simple but very powerful.
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Where the Heart goes Love will follow
Where the Heart goes, Love will lead
Carry kindness in your pocket
Pass it on with each kind deed
Where the Heart goes, Love will lead
Carry kindness in your pocket
Pass it on with each kind deed
During the past year and a half, thousands of heartpasses have left my hands and moved on to people in different parts of the world. At a market last summer called the Pictou Weekend Market, I made it a point to give a heart to anyone who bought my clay jewelry as a thank you for supporting me. Often people would stop by my table for a chat. Now I can talk with the best of them and made some incredible connections with the people who visited my booth at the market every Saturday and Sunday. Sometimes those conversations even ended with tears and a hug. Always I intuitively knew who needed a heartpass. It gave me great pleasure to pay kindness forward in memory of my mom. Did I make a lot of money every weekend? No, but the gifts of heart and connection I received and passed on were priceless! The spirit of my mother’s love was with me in the market all summer long. Of that I am sure!
There is one more element to this story that has to be told and that is how I came to have a website. A new friend who I had never met personally received a heartpass I had sent to him thanking him for the emotional support he gave as my mother neared the end of her life. Often I would tell him about passing on the heartpasses. He loved the stories and it was his suggestion that I register a domain name for Where the Heart Goes. Out of the kindness of his heart he designed the website and to be honest I have never been more proud for it represents a piece of my heart and a legacy of love.
The heartpasses came about because of caring for my mom in her final days. They have since travelled because kindness is the most powerful of all gifts we share with one another. Mom was proud to be part of the heartpass creation and I believe she is smiling from above as it continues to grow and spread. Even though she no longer softens the clay, never do I make a heart when I don’t think about her and our special mother/daughter connection. The Spirit of love truly does live on forever!
There is one more element to this story that has to be told and that is how I came to have a website. A new friend who I had never met personally received a heartpass I had sent to him thanking him for the emotional support he gave as my mother neared the end of her life. Often I would tell him about passing on the heartpasses. He loved the stories and it was his suggestion that I register a domain name for Where the Heart Goes. Out of the kindness of his heart he designed the website and to be honest I have never been more proud for it represents a piece of my heart and a legacy of love.
The heartpasses came about because of caring for my mom in her final days. They have since travelled because kindness is the most powerful of all gifts we share with one another. Mom was proud to be part of the heartpass creation and I believe she is smiling from above as it continues to grow and spread. Even though she no longer softens the clay, never do I make a heart when I don’t think about her and our special mother/daughter connection. The Spirit of love truly does live on forever!
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