Green satin ribbon

I've been listening to Are You Somebody?, a memoir by Nuala O'Faolain. She describes having been given an exercise once to write about the turning points in her life. Start with the sentence, "I was born" as number one. Number two for her was, "I learned to read." She illuminates well how reading has colored everything she's done since.

For me, I think my second sentence would be, "I learned to tie a bow." Doesn't sound lofty or earth-shaking (or even very promising), does it? But I remember the exact moment I first successfully tied a bow -- not in my shoelaces (this was pre-Velcro when sensible shoes tied and buckles were for dress-up), but in the green satin ribbon of a bolero jacket my Grandma had made for my Barbie. I was not yet 5 and sitting in the sunny open front door, dangling my bare feet over the sill and it came like a flash: that first bow worked carefully in the miniature that is everything about Barbie clothes (have you seen those snaps?) and the beginning of Independence. No more waiting on the pleasure of others. I could do this myself.

Maybe that's the root of my long romance with thread, yarn, string & rope. My macrame career may have been brief, but I have a shelf full of books on knots accompanying my shelf of sewing books & shelves of knitting books. (So maybe reading is number 3?) Is it the holding things together that fascinates me or the labyrinthine path the cord follows to a miraculous conclusion? Or maybe I just believe everything is connected and yarn is a fine metaphor for that.

How about you? What's your second sentence? Or third or fourth?