Despite that neither of us were remotely close to having our shopping done, we decided to drop off a picture frame that needed a new piece of glass, thinking it would only take a moment of our time (and we really needed the space it had occupied on our buffet- for the past 6 months-for our nativity scene). This turned out to be one of the best decisions of our holidays. While waiting for the glass to be cut we struck up a conversation with the woman who was working about a fabulous framed print of Shepard Fairey's Obama poster. As a confirmed Obamaholic I was impressed. She shared with my husband and I that the store owner (Karen) had followed Obama for many years before his election as president. (Me too!). Wouldn't you know, right at that moment Karen walked into the store. An hour and half later we finally left, much richer for having met her. We talked politics, which is to say, we talked about our communities, leadership, the environment, and our collective future. While showing us more prints of the Obama campaign, she gifted each of us with a limited edition postcard of the same print that was hanging on the wall. Thankfully, I had an arm full of dakbands. But best of all, I met a kindred spirit.
Then, just a few hours later - I was still rejoicing about my Obama postcards - while standing in line at Zellers I over heard a father talking with his two young daughters. They each had a toy in their hands and he was praising them for making such good choices. The toys were for Toy Mountain (or something similar). He was asking them all kinds of wonderful questions....."How old do think the children who receive these toys might be? Do you think these toys are for a little boy, or a little girl?" Ironically I had a bunch of children's dakbands in my purse, so I turned around, excused myself for eves dropping, and gave each little girl a pair of bands (they were around 8 years old). As I walked away, I could hear the father say, "what a wonderful idea."
What an amazing day.
