William was waiting at the gate when we arrived at the airport, after we had been weaving for about an hour one of our newly met collaborators asked him if he would like to help? His reply was a friendly but sure “I’m ok”. After a few more hours and a couple more invitations William decided to weave. And he kept weaving for hours until the rug had reached its full length! While he was weaving he shared that he was waiting for his baby and “baby mama” to arrive from San Francisco, but they hadn’t come off the plane he was expecting them to be on and he had no way of contacting them as his phone only received calls. He was clearly worried. At a certain point he decided he should leave. You can imagine my surprise when he returned about a half an hour later with a friend in tow. His friend had been sleeping in the car, which now was being held hostage in the parking lot as the police had stopped William and discovered that his drivers license was not valid. They further searched his pockets and on finding a card with an image of Jill’s red suitcase and this blog address the police decided he was trying to steal luggage!
Jill and Anne had left the airport and William kept me (Sandy) company while continuing to weave. He used my phone trying to contact relations and friends who live in Portland with out too much luck. We were joined by Kathy, who was waiting on stand-by as her company had booked her on a flight out of Portland Main by mistake. Kathy is a life coach and was very generous as she talked with William about his situation with his baby mama. William finally made contact with a friend of the family and took off after hugs and many thank yous. That left Kathy and I there to tie the word Welcome into the mat, until her flight. When she left it was just me and the finished mat, waiting to meet Nadia and Sasha, our final arrival from NYC. I got a text from Nadia and Sasha saying "we are here at baggage claim, where are you?" I texted back- “STAY THERE I’M COMING!” Then I realized that I had way too many things to carry, it would not be a very elegant or festive welcome for them.
Suddenly out of nowhere William and Kevin appeared again, they had found his baby and baby mama! I still don’t know why they came back but they said, do you need help? And William picked up the bags and the red suitcase, I the rolled up mat and Kevin the welcome sign. Kevin lead the way holding the sign aloft above his head as we went down the escalator to the baggage claim. Sasha and Nadia Yelled “Sandy!” I stepped forward and unrolled the mat. You would have thought we were long separated family from all the hugs and laughter! Kevin and William took the last strolls down the welcome mat- that is his baby mamma’s red suitcase in the background.
Thank you Kevin and William!
Security staff were quick to inquire about the project but rather than deter the project they helped develop the project as they collaborated on the weaving, engaged in conversation and welcomed the project at the airport.
