Small Miracle

Tuesday evening the girls and I went to the Muny. M had a band gig and we wanted to see the musical, “Hairspray.” The weather was decent for St. Louis, as it has been all summer (until now, that is, when it is approaching 100 degrees). We had a picnic, watched the band, and enjoyed the musical.

Walking out, we cut across some large spans of lawn to get to the car. While we were walking, I reaching in my purse for my keys and noticed I had dropped something. I picked it up and kept walking.

The next day, I reached in my purse for my pen and it was gone. I was heartbroken. This was not just any pen.

When my former boss retired, he gave me this pen. This is close to 10 years ago. It’s a beautiful, red Cross pen. When he gave it to me he mentioned “the fire within.” I used this pen all through grad school, so it has written and edited plenty of stories. It’s the primary pen I used when working on my novel. I use it in my day-to-day job as well. It has passed through many purses, backpacks, and messenger bags; been with me on most of both my business and personal trips; signed legal documents, taxes, and so much more.

I am a person who hates to be possessed by possessions, but gosh, this one upset me. There was just so much of my personal history tied in with this stunning pen.

Thursday evening I came home and the pen was on the table with a note from H. “I hope you like your surprise.” She was at her dad’s so I called her.

“How did you get it back?”

“I went to Forest Park after work and found it.”

Me, completely stunned, “No you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did. I knew the line we had walked and the trees we walked between. I was worried that if they had mowed it would be trashed, but they hadn’t. It took me about five minutes.”

Seriously – who does something like this? Makes a trek like she did. “I knew how much it meant to you,” she said, “so I at least wanted to try to find it and I did.”

Wow. How absolutely awesome. All of a sudden, it was about the pen, but also about so much more. About me realizing that there are people in the world who understand what is important to others and who will go to lengths to make sure they show them. People who are willing to be generous and giving and perhaps even more importantly, take time to do something for someone else just to make that other person happy.

And amazingly enough, this simple, single gal is the proud momma of one of those people. That is probably the best gift of all – realizing that not just anyone did this for me, but that my own child did because she understood. How cool is that?