Sunday, June 29, 2008

Serendipity...

One of the highlights of our trip to Helen was my date with Mom. We left the kids and drove through beautiful country on a choose-your-own-adventure pottery shop hunt. We never intended to stumble upon Serendipity Stained Glass Shop, my favorite.

The owners were a delightful retired couple from, of all places, Central Florida. They'd been vacationing in Helen years ago when they stumbled upon the shop. The husband was inspired to take up stained glass. So he did. (An engineering and math teacher by profession, the puzzle aspect of glass appealed to his precise and meticulous nature...Any wonder why I love it myself?)

Every year they visited Serendipity. Every year as they drove away they'd muse, "Someday we'll take over that place." And so, as I'm sure you've guessed, the summer after he retired they drove up to find a For Sale sign out front. The story includes many coincidental and fortuitous twists and turns, but I wouldn't do it justice.

I felt such joy for this couple, who chatted with each other day in and day out as he worked on glass and she ran the business. They finished each other's sentences and read each other's thoughts. They were in it for the fun, so when we came in they dropped everything and visited with us for an hour, like old friends. They were spending their twilight years doing something they enjoyed as a team. Sweet.

Perhaps one day Paris and I will buy the shop from them. I can picture it, I really can.

Shoot, maybe I'll call and make an offer tomorrow. :)

2 comments:

Liz said...

That was so perfectly worded. You really should send that and some of your other blogs to some womens magazine. I'm sure you could be published. Your writing is really good. I could picture the shop and the couple in my mind just from your description. Very sweet.

nanamoo said...

great story...thanks for sharing!