A group of college students never guessed that a cross-stitch they bought from a thrift store would eventually connect them with total strangers. Wanting to decorate their new apartment, the roommates set off to their local thrift store. Looking through the frames and paintings, they spotted a cross-stitch baby announcement. “Who on earth would buy someone else’s baby announcement,” asked Brigham Tingey, one of the roommates. The group decided that they were the type of people, and if anyone was going to do it, it was them. It turns out that was the best $2.50 they ever spent. The cross-stitch announced the birth of Ty Christopher — March 1, 1991, 6 pounds 10¾ ounces. The roommates hung the announcement on the wall, and it quickly became an inside joke. “It was our WiFi password for a while — just “tychristopher” all lowercase,” said Tingey. As March 1 approached, the students decided they would be remiss if they didn’t celebrate Ty’s birthday by doing something special. That’s when they decided to throw a birthday party for Ty Christopher, who many of the people who attended believed was a real friend of the roommates. They had no idea what they had started.
As the roommates got older, graduated and moved out, the throwing of the annual Ty Christopher birthday party continued. It wasn’t long before some of the students decided to try to find the real Ty Christopher. They used their amateur filmmaking skills to make a movie about their efforts to find the unknown man. There was no social media in the name Ty Christopher, and the only other lead they had was the name written on the back of the cross-stitch: Jill (last name withheld). They found Jill on social media, but she hadn’t been active on her account in years. Tingey decided to send Jill’s Facebook profile to his brother-in-law Jackson, who had mad skills for finding people.
Lo and behold, as Jackson looked on the page, he discovered that he and Jill had a mutual friend. Jill was a little caught off guard at first, but after Jackson shared the story, she said she would love to help the roommates get connected. Jill revealed that Ty Christopher was his first and middle name, his last name being Nelson. The family had moved out of the area and Jill hadn’t been in touch with them in the last 30 years. A couple of days later, Tingey received a call from Jill, who had located Ty’s mother Cheryl, who eventually put the roommates in touch with the real Ty Christopher Nelson. When he heard the story, he thought it was hilarious. Tingey said to him, “Hey, is there any chance you would want to come and attend this party in your honor?” Ty jumped at the chance and the party was a huge success. “We couldn’t have asked for a better wrap-up to the story,” said Tingey.
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| Brigham Tingey (left) and Ty Christopher Nelson |
