Infinite Love, One Stitch at a Time
At 96, Ms. Birdie has crocheted more than 2,500 hats for cancer patients— proving that love, like a rose, blooms for all who see it
Love is an infinite gift and offering we hold within our hearts. I believe there is no such thing as limited love, for the only thing limited is the time we have to share it. Love tends to expand when the opportunity to love presents itself. For example, I have never heard a mother with two children say she loves her first child only half as much now that she has a second child. Instead, the heart expands its capacity to love even more.
Similarly, a rose doesn’t discriminate who can see its beauty or smell its lovely sent. It has an infinite ability to share that with all who gaze upon it or experience its presence. I recently met a woman who is the epitome of both the rose and love.
Ms. Birdie, a 96-year-old woman who lives in Quincy, crochets more than 500 hats a year and donates them to the cancer center at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH). This gift makes more of an impact to her community than she can ever begin to realize.
I learned about Ms. Birdie from a dear friend of mine, Virginia Glass, who also is always finding ways to lift up others who, in turn, pay it forward.
Growing up in Madison County, Birdie says, “Momma used to work in the fields like men do. As I saw her getting older, she just twiddled her thumbs. I didn’t want to get old and twiddle my thumbs.”
Birdie had her sights on a different life. She worked as a secretary, and as she was leaving her office, she would often walk past an elderly lady named Ms. Sanders crocheting. One day, Birdie asked her what she was doing with the yarn, and that was the day she began to learn how to crochet.
After Hurricane Michael, Birdie was asked to crochet 195 hats for the hospital in Panama City. Shortly thereafter, Birdie had a critical health scare. She was seen at other medical facilities but credits Dr. Alexandria Wright at TMH for saving her life; after she was diagnosed with a punctured lung, she immediately underwent surgery.
Anne Munson, TMH’s development officer, supported Birdie through her rehabilitation, and they created a special bond. It’s because of Anne that Birdie keeps making these hats—one in the morning and one after lunch every day.
Birdie has inspired other young volunteers to continue her legacy of hat making. When I asked Birdie if she would teach me to crochet on my next visit, she said she would be happy to show me everything she knows about crocheting, just like Ms. Sanders did for her.
Birdie’s hats help keep cancer patients’ heads warm during hair loss. In Birdie’s heartfelt gift, we can see that it is truly the heart that provides warmth—and that love is infinite.
Thank you, Birdie, our rose, for warming the hearts of the 2,500 patients you have gifted your hats to over the last five years. You’ve also touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of family members, friends, and those reading your story who feel inspired to love and spread love.
Here is to each of you, our readers: May we all find ways to not grow old and twiddle our thumbs, but instead, to gift even strangers we will never meet by sharing our infinite love, talents, and hearts.
Much love,
McKenzie Burleigh
