A story about love, growing up, and coming full circle

Nicole here, co-founder of Upcycle Parts Shop. I like to write and tell stories. I also like to connect with people and get creative. Here’s a story I wrote to share with you, with some of all that in it!

Some people draw hearts to represent love. Hearts are great, but I draw circles. I love circles because they represent connection. Their roundness and generosity, the way that the round lines can encircle what we care about, and how they come back to where they started, but only after going around and taking up some space first. Circles and  love.  It’s the time of year where love is a popular topic, and I have a story to share about love, and it’s love coming full circle. 

Love is the best thing we do, and it's about time we apply the best thing we do to the places we live and work.

We’re quoting writer Peter Kageyama here, like we often do. Because he writes about cities and how it FEELS to live in communities. How it feels when there is purpose, connection, belonging. Those feelings are…you know, LOVE. (Learn more about Peter and how he talks about love affairs with place here)

Time for the story: 

Around the time when this organization was just a twinkle in the lights of Cleveland, I was pregnant with my now 9-year old son. If you ask me about it, I’ll talk in metaphor about my human baby and non-human baby and how they’re siblings to one another. I’ve always been invested in raising them both. In infancy I balanced one on each hip, toddler years I held both their hands. And now I walk between them both, marveling at how big they’re getting and how lucky this journey has been.

Months ago Harvey came home from school and said  “We have a new art teacher and she brought in a bunch of materials for an art project and I asked her where she got them and she said Upcycle Parts Shop. I told her my mom works there”  That was awesome. I marveled at how it felt when things just work on their own. An art teacher knows where to get creative supplies, when resources connect, how cool. And my boy recognized the supplies so he asked her about them.  Love it!

AND THEN, the school invited parents to an art-opening of the exhibit, called “Because it’s Fun” at the Cleveland Museum of Art.  We went, along with lots of families, teachers, and Cleveland’s new Mayor! Harvey got to meet the Mayor! And the student artwork made from so many recognizable pieces of Upcycle Parts Shop looks GORGEOUS on the walls of the exhibit hall. 

…..And meanwhile, just a half mile away, the shop was open for retail shopping on a busy Saturday, and plastic bottles were being transformed into flowers upstairs in our workshop room. It was just a regular Saturday, but special on so many levels. My babies were living their best life on just a normal weekend, Cleveland’s new Mayor came to see the show, and my boy got to chat him up about his Flamin’ Hot Cheeto inspired art (made with classmates, from pool noodles).

I met the Artist in Residence, Megan Young, and thanked her for sourcing materials for this months-in-the-making student art show from Upcycle Parts Shop. I kept quiet about how she honored both my human and non-human babies at the same time, but I felt it. And I wanted to tell someone about it, so thanks for reading. Love, coming full circle, is a lot what our work at Upcycle Parts Shop is about.

Mayor Justin Bibb discussing art made from upcycled materials at the student exhibit at Cleveland Institute of Art. Photo Credit: Cleveland Institute of Art