Today’s meaningful post for Mandalas for Marinke comes to us from Danielle Herie, a 38 year old mother of 2 wonderful children who shares that she has crocheted for more than thirty years and death with depression for over twenty years.
Danielle can be found on Ravelry, where we learn that she has one son and one daughter, lives in Winnipeg, Canada and has two dogs named Minnie and James. She can also be found on Facebook. Danielle shares,
“I have struggled with depression for 20+ years now, so Wink, and this project, hit very close to home for me.”
“I used the colors to show my personal journey from dark (black in the centre) towards the light. I used the blues to represent the lightening sky, as well as meeting my husband and giving birth to our son. The pinks are for the recent birth of our daughter.
I used the basic 12-round mandala and then changed the border. I was going for angel wings / halos for the outside edge. Then I thought it could also be the sun breaking through the clouds. I added these rows for Wink, hoping she has now found some light.”
She adds,
“Last year, a former co-worker took her own life, and it really impacted me. I have seen how it affected her children, especially her daughter (also a former co-worker). It’s really heartbreaking. As she recently posted: “Suicide takes away your pain and gives it to someone else.” Every time that my depression starts to get really bad, I remember her daughter’s gut-wrenching sobbing at the funeral, and think of my own children in her place.”
“I would love to say that I am now in the light, but every day I will probably have to ‘always keep fighting’.”
This last line is a reference to Jared Padalecki‘s struggle with depression and the name of his campaign. He launched a t-shirt campaign called Always Keep Fighting to help benefit To Write Love on Her Arms, an organization written about previously in this MandalasForMarinke project.
This is one of the posts made in honor of Wink, in celebration of crochet mandalas and to raise depression awareness. See all Mandalas for Marinke posts here.