40 The sun frisks the horizon and we pull out, a happy sadness filling the car.
CIRQUE I reach in the back seat to find our bag and open it. There, wrapped in tissue and on top of my Diet Coke is the birch bark basket.
When you look for beauty, you’ll find it every time. Except it’s not one I’d chosen. When you set the schedule down, you’ll find yourself doing what you never knew you were missing.
It’s one that’s filled with intricate stitching and elaborate caribou hair tufting.
When you allow yourself a little danger, you’ll find safety in the fun of this life.
It’s one that would’ve taken her a very long time to make.
Telling her goodbye reminds me of all that.
It’s one I’d admired for a long moment at the shop.
I grab my husband’s big hand, smile at the land stretched out before us.
He tells me she’d rung his items up and collected his money. Then she’d gone over to the basket table and placed the one he’d just purchased back on the shelf and replaced it with this one.
I sure liked BJ. He pauses and the road hums under us, no cars to be seen anywhere.
I flipped it over in my hands as my eyes began to water, running my fingers over inches of soft Alaska…the care… the beauty…the love.
“You know babe? I think BJ sure liked you too.” Yeah. Ya know, I’ll probably never see her again. But I feel like I just made a new friend that I’ve known for a long time.
The tears touched the corners of my eyes and rivered over once my hand found the price tag she’d forgotten to take off in her rush.
We’ve not turned the radio on and he’s quiet for another half mile or so.
She’d chosen one for me that cost three times as much as the one we picked to fit our budget.
”I betcha if you look in that bag you’ll see that she feels the same way.”
She’d chosen one for me that was the most expensive on her shelf.
What?
“I think BJ really liked you too honey.” The tears fall down my chin and slide into my lap. And the glow of the midnight sun shined into the rearview and straight through my heart. BJ’s basket sits on the window ledge in my kitchen to remind me. It really is true. Everywhere, a friend. Jim Sweeney