One year ago, Christian Marianciuc was in need of a New Year’s Resolution.
He found himself in a place many of us are familiar with. 2014 was coming to a close and with 2015 swooping in, he needed a new thing. Marianciuc came up with the idea of making origami cranes from pieces of paper.
On January 1, he began a new journal. It was a project that required him to make one paper crane a day for a full year. He used little pieces of paper, tin foil, maps, and any other scraps he could think of to create a crane that outlined his day everyday.
Marianciuc’s first crane was his “blank canvas crane,” but it was the first of many:
For example, day 6 gave way to the family drama crane:
Marianciuc was inspired by the popular story of Sadako Sasaki.
Sadako Sasaki was a young girl who lived in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped in 1945. Sasaki had been diagnosed with leukemia as a result of the bomb being dropped in Hiroshima. In her hospital bed, she attempted to fold one thousand origami cranes. This was due to a Japanese legend that said anybody who folded a thousand cranes would have a wish granted. Unfortunately, Sasaki never reached her mark.
Marianciuc was aware of this story, but never had a personal connection to it until he lost his sister to leukemia.
“One of my sisters was also too eager to pick up her wings, and, at the hand of leukemia, left us some years ago,” he told Upworthy.
To honor his sister, Sadako Sasaki, and to push himself to be more present in 2015, he started his origami adventure.
What began as a one-year journey is turning into something bigger. Marianciuc is pushing himself to make a crane a day until he reaches his goal of one thousand paper cranes and is granted his own wish.
[Featured Image Credit: Instagram]