Life's Plot Points

Have you ever thought about the plot points in your life? Some happening, possibly small that forever changed your life. Maybe its because I’m going to Vegas soon, but I started thinking of how an innocuous decision I made some years ago on a trip there that forever changed my life.

I was basically wandering around aimlessly when I went to the Forum Shops at Caesar’s Palace. For anyone unfamiliar, it an indoor area of stores that looks like it’s outside. The ceiling even looks like the sky and dims to twilight and then brightens again. The ground give the illusion of being cobblestone. The stores are mostly high end designer and my wandering was not about shopping.

By chance I went into the FAO Schwartz toy store. It wasn’t as if I was looking for a gift or anything. I had no destination in mind and simply rode up the escalator. To get to the escalator to the next level required walking across the second floor. And then by chance I happened to look to the side and saw the kids’ crochet granny square kit.

If I hadn’t gone in that store and decided to go to the top floor, I would not have seen that kit or probably ever known about it. Though I’d had an interest in learning how to make granny squares for a long time, it wasn’t even close to uppermost in my mind. In fact it wasn’t on my mind at all. What I’m saying is that if I hadn’t gone into the store and seen the little blue suitcase, it’s not like I would have come across it somewhere else.

But that kids’ kit changed my life. I bought it of course and once I used it and learned how to make a granny square, the crochet world opened to me. Because of that kit, I thought I could figure out how to crochet all different sorts of things. And somewhere in the mix I got the idea of mixing mystery with crochet.

What if I’d gone across the street to the Venetian hotel instead. They have a fake indoor street of shops, too. Actually even nicer as there is a canal running through it. Or if I hadn’t been alone, I might not have gone in a toy store.

I am going through the first pass pages of the thirteenth Crochet Mystery HOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING. It is crazy to think that but for that random stop in a toy store, the whole series would never have happened.

A Correction.  I'm afraid I read an email too fast and thought that Amazon's special $l.99 promotion for ON THE HOOK

was June 25, but it's actually July 25.  You can see how the mistake could happen.  Both months start with JU and have four letters.