SeaHeart

It has been so unseasonably warm that everyone in Buffalo has been having end-of-the-world thoughts. It unnerves me to be able to go outside in a t-shirt in January, that harbinger of doom and blizzards, but I also hate to not take copious amounts of advantage of it, either, and have been frolicking hither and yon in the great outdoors, not hampered by my bulky coat and boots.

Jenn and I, in the warm months (and even the "getting colder" months), took a walk every night under the stars. It became one of our happiest daily rituals, we'd usually talk about books and writing and watch the shooting stars, and it was kind of THE GREATEST THING EVER. This is something I've missed so much since winter began, so last night, after we came home from the library, in the coolness (not frigidness) of a January evening, we went for a walk together. <3

Before the library, we'd tried to make it to the thrift store before it closed (WE JUST MISSED IT. It was like the saddest race against time EVER.). Now that Sparkle Room is almost finished, the final thing we need are two dedicated chairs for our posteriors to use while creating MAGICAL THINGS. Yes, of course we can move the chairs from the dining room table to Sparkle Room back to the dining room, but our dining room chairs are the least comfortable things in the known universe, and when you have to create on something for HOURS every week, you like something a touch COMFY. So we thought it might be TIME FOR A CHANGE. But the thrift store was closed! Woe! We'd have to wait. Again. (We've been trying to get chairs for awhile, and keep getting thwarted.) ;-;

So we went on the walk down our road when we got home, and we had the best, most uproarious conversations, and went much farther than we'd planned--about two miles. It was a very dark night--though the moon was just full, the sky was covered with a thick blanket of cloud, and there wasn't a pinch of light to be had. We trudged along, hands in pockets, when out of the gloom loomed a shape-that-shouldn't-have-been-there on the side of the road.

It was garbage night, and in front of every house and barn was a few bags and bundles of refuse. We live in a very poor county, so whereas garbage day in the city is a bonanza of Interesting!Things! you might like to have or need (we've gotten some pretty cool tables and necessities from the curbside), mostly what is outside on garbage day on our street is PURE GARBAGE. You really don't want any of it, I promise you.

But what did we have here? We stood in astonishment and stared, for on the side of the road beside bags of garbage were two chairs, as if summoned there by magic.

After the astonishment wore off, we tested them, made sure they were all right. They were good, thick, sturdy dining room chairs, and one was in perfect condition, and the other had its seat removed. But we are VERY handy people and KNOW HOW TO PUT A SEAT BACK ON A CHAIR.

That it was two miles back home in the pitch dark on the roadside didn't daunt us in the least. When a wondrous thing happens so obviously, you are GRATEFUL for it. So we walked all the way home with heavy, sturdy chairs slung over our shoulders, absolutely and utterly delighted at the serendipity of this world, and utterly aware of how ridiculous we looked (some church ladies getting out of the corner church watched two chair bearing turtles walk by, mouths open. It was HILARIOUS.), and not caring in the SLIGHTEST. BECAUSE WE FINALLY HAD AWESOME CHAIRS, gifted to us by the UNIVERSE.

AND THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS THIS: sometimes, when you ask for magic, it happens. <3