Tag Archives: connection

It Was Like My Whole Experience Had Been Choreographed

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From the moment I stepped out of my car in the Fred Meyer’s parking lot yesterday afternoon, to the moment I arrived back at my car after shopping, I felt surrounded in magic.

When I arrived, I grabbed a small shopping cart which someone had shoved under a tree in the parking lot, and waited to cross the pavement from where I’d parked to the sidewalk in front of Fred’s. A truck stopped for me, and I gave the driver a smile and a “go ahead” wave, and got a wave back. When the truck went on through, a woman came to the sidewalk, waiting to cross over to where I was standing. We smiled and waved at each other and executed a perfect cross-over together.

As I slowly weaved my way through the store, everyone I met – of every age and color and gender – exchanged a smile with me and treated me with kindness. And when I got to the produce section, a man glanced over at me and, in the same moment, we recognized each other. I scrabbled around in my memory and came up with the name “Matt!” Matt was a former co-worker of my husband’s at the Skagit Valley Herald, but had left his career as a photojournalist to teach full-time in Anacortes 15 or 16 years ago.

Matt’s wife, Jill, a second grade teacher in Anacortes, was there, too. When Matt went to introduce me to Jill, he said, “I’m sorry, but I don’t remember your name…” And that TOTALLY made my day! I have often been that person – the one who doesn’t remember the name – and I felt so proud that I hadn’t been that person THIS time. I thanked Matt for not remembering my name – told him it was reassuring that THIS time I won in the name-remembering thing, and Matt nodded and laughed with me about that. For the next little while Jill, Matt, and I exchanged stories about our teaching careers – talked and laughed and got caught up.

I noticed a young Fred Meyer employee stocking the bananas and intuitively turned to him and smiled. He grinned back at me and said yes, he had been listening into our conversation. Enrique said he wanted to be a school counselor someday – he wanted to be that person who helps students stay in school and get their diplomas – and he was enjoying our conversation about teaching. Enrique was so cool! He was excited about his future in education, excited about getting his degree, excited about helping others. Enrique gave me hope for the world.

When it was time for us to continue on with our shopping, I asked Jill if I could have a hug – because there’s nothing like the hug of a second grade teacher – and she laughed and gave me a bonafide second-grade-teacher hug, and I got a bonus hug from Matt, too.

I got in the checkout line behind a couple maybe in their eighties. I enjoyed watching the way they worked together as a team with their groceries. It occurred to me this couple had maybe been together fifty or sixty years. Watching them, I was kind of in awe of them.

A man came up behind me in the line with no groceries at all. I asked him if he’d like to go in front of me, and he said no, he just wanted to get a pack of smokes and he wasn’t in any hurry.

I turned back to the couple in front of me, just as my former dental hygienist (now retired), Misty, walked by with her husband. Her face lit up into a big grin when she saw me, and we waved at each other and blew each other kisses. Magic!

Now the older gentleman in the couple in front of me in line turned around and smiled and mouthed the word “sorry” – I think he was apologizing for his transaction taking so long – and I laughed and told him it was all good.

After I’d paid, I headed for the exit. I saw a woman in the lobby looking at the shopping carts – there were only a few large ones there. My groceries were not so heavy that I couldn’t get them back to my car without a cart, so I asked the woman if she’d like a small cart. She smiled and said she would. So I took my bag of groceries out of my cart and handed it off to her.

It was like my whole shopping experience had been choreographed or scripted or something: Enter stage right with a small shopping cart; exchange smiles with people; run into Matt and Jill; get into conversation with Enrique; get behind the sweet couple at the checkout stand; pass off the cart to the woman in the lobby; exit stage right.

Magic, my friends!

Nudged by Love to Find the Magic

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March 9:
This morning a series of what seemed like random happenings led me to run into a friend I rarely see – and brought me such joy! Later, as I contemplated this, it felt, to me, that the entire way I had been led by Cosmic Love – nudged and guided to that surprise meeting with my friend. And it occurred to me that this kind of magic is happening to us all the time – that Love is continually guiding us to beautiful gifts. I am so grateful for all the good that fills my life.

So here’s what happened:

I’d gone off at sunrise to make a run to Fred’s to get something for a friend. I hadn’t gone far on my drive when I came upon an amazing reflection of the sunrise in a flooded field. Magic! I took some quick pictures and continued on my errand.

I found what I needed for my friend, bought myself some groceries while I was there, and then, on impulse, got myself one of those Lindt creamy chocolate bars, too. (That candy bar is going to appear later in the story.) When it came time to ring me up, the total came to $66.66. “Six six six six,” the cashier said. “Well, that’s kind of scary,” I said, laughing. My friend, Patty, who was just about to come in as a cashier, started laughing then, too. She reminded me that the week ends with a Friday the Thirteenth, too. “Let’s round it up for the food bank,” I said (I was going to do that, anyway), and everyone nodded their heads in agreement that this was a good plan.

I drove home – stopping at my friend’s house to deliver what I’d gotten for her – and, when I got home, started unpacking the rest of my groceries. When I got to the bottom of my canvas bag, I realized that my candy bar was missing. Huh. It was such a small thing, at first I thought I’d just chalk it off as one of those things that happens sometimes, and move on. But I finally decided I might as well call Fred’s and see if a candy bar had been left behind and turned in to their customer service people. I was embarrassed to make the call asking about a candy bar (!), but the customer service person asked, “Lindt? Extra creamy?” And when I confirmed this, she said it was sitting right there, waiting for me. Whoah. I told her I’d be right in to pick it up.

There was a small line at customer service. When the woman ahead of me got up to the desk she bought a Powerball and a Lotto ticket. Although I’ve bought a lotto ticket for Scott a couple times when he’s asked me to – I have never, in my life, bought a lotto ticket for myself. I was kind of intrigued by the idea of it. The Mega Millions one is up to $533 million now. I started fantasizing about what it would be like to win something like that.

Anyway. So when it was my turn at the customer service desk, I announced myself as “the candy bar lady” and said I was really embarrassed about this. The customer service woman started laughing, and assured me that this kind of thing happens all the time, and handed me my Lindt bar.

I brought my candy out to the car, but then I thought again about that Powerball thing. It is a weird week with Friday the 13th and everything, and maybe, for me, it would be a LUCKY week. So I threw my Lindt bar into the car, and then headed back in to Fred’s to get myself one of them there Mega Million thingies – a vision of stacks of money tickling my brain.

When I got to the lobby, my friend, Amanda, entered from the other door – and there we were! It was so good to see her again! Amanda is one of those people that just exudes joy and kindness – and anyone blessed to be in her presence, feels it. I told her I was on my way in to buy a Lotto ticket of some kind, but I wasn’t really sure how to do it. She said her dad buys Lotto tickets sometimes, and walked me through what I needed to say to the clerk. I thanked Amanda, and started to turn away to go get a Lotto ticket, when I realized that being led to come back into the store hadn’t been about getting a Lotto ticket at all! It had been about running into Amanda in the lobby! I told Amanda this, and she grinned and nodded her head, and we stayed and chatted together for another ten minutes. It was wonderful.

I never did get a Lotto ticket.

On the way home, I took a side road and came upon a field of trumpeter swans flapping and honking and having a jolly good time. When I first got there, there were actually swans on both sides of the road, and – I do not think I’ve ever seen this before – a line of swans waddled across the road in front of me like they were pedestrians in a crosswalk. It was charming. Magic!

Finding the Magic on a Dark Day

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It was dark and cold and I needed to get out of the house and find some magic.

I drove towards La Conner, took a left, another left, and a right, and ended up at Kohl’s in Burlington. I rarely shop at Kohl’s, but I found myself heading towards their door. I meandered towards the back of the store and looked to the left, and this is where I found magic!

There was a happy little toddler there, busily pushing one of those toy popper mowers and my heart just melted at the sight of him. He was joy personified! I looked around to see who he was with, and found his mom and dad watching him from the aisle. They saw me grinning and laughing, tickled by their little boy, and started laughing with me. After a couple of attempts, I realized the little one’s mom and dad didn’t speak English – I think they were speaking Oaxacan – but we managed to communicate without words, and I was able to let them know I wanted to buy the popper toy for their toddler. They nodded and smiled, and followed me as I went to the cashier to pay for the toy. When I’d bought the popper mower, I brought it back to the little one – who was sitting in the cart now – and thanked him for the pleasure of meeting him today. It – all of it! – was magic!

I wandered around the shopping area for a while then – to See’s for some California brittle – to Petco to watch the fish. And then I drove to Fred’s for some impulse shopping.

I picked up a bag of oranges, a bag of apples, cherry tomatoes, cat food, yogurt, and went to the cashier to pay. She asked me how I was doing and I told her it was cold and dark and I needed to come to Fred’s and buy impulse items. “Like cat food,” I said, “and I don’t even have a cat!” She started laughing with me. I told her nah, I was just joking.

It brings me joy to be with people who know how to laugh with me.

It was still cold and dark outside as I drove home, but now my inside was all warmed up with laughter.

The Way It Should Always Be

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PUPS!!! So many sweet pups on the boardwalk today! They brought me such joy, filled my heart all up with good things. There were two Lilahs; a Motley; Aspen with her human, Ash, ; Gypsy; my old friend, Daisy, with her buddy, Melody; Akira, who danced down the boardwalk; and my old friend, Baker – who came bounding down the boardwalk to greet me.

The bay was beautiful today, too – blue and shiny, with fog on one side, and the Canadian Coastals on the other.

The road above Taylor Dock to Fairhaven was closed because of construction, so I went up one block to by-pass the blocked street and then came down into Fairhaven from above. I felt Cafe Blue calling to me – I haven’t been there for a while and was missing the welcoming vibe. Cafe Blue has always been packed full of people when I’ve been there, so I mentally prepared myself for that. I figured if I couldn’t find a place to sit, I’d just get a coffee to go and take it with me on my walk back to my car.

Cafe Blue WAS packed again today, but, cosmically, as soon as I got done giving my order and started looking for a table, one opened up! It was a table for four and I felt kind of greedy sitting there – so I put myself in the corner of the table, ready to offer the rest of the table to whoever was looking for a place to sit.

My coffee arrived and I settled into the space, closed my eyes for a minute and just let myself absorb the joy around me. When I opened my eyes I saw a couple of young women who looked like they were looking for a place to sit. I offered them the open seats at my table and they sat there until the table next to mine opened up for them. One of the women, Elena, had cool rings on every finger, and I asked her about them. She said the one on her thumb had been made by her grandma, and the other rings were ones she’d mostly found in shops around Bellingham – rings with art and cool quartz and tiger’s eye rocks. I told her I love rocks, too, and reached for my amber necklace to show it off to her – and then I realized I’d forgotten to wear it today. Elena laughed and said that happens to her, too – just when she wants to show off something, she doesn’t have it with her.

I enjoy the feeling of community I always feel in the Cafe Blue – strangers smiling at each other, sharing tables, becoming friends. That’s the way it should always be.

I Smiled the Whole Way Home

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Fred’s was full of Seahawks fever today. They’ve got this big screen tv set up in the middle of the store with a comfy chair in front of it. Highlights from Seahawks games are playing on the screen, and every time I passed the TV, I stopped to watch for a moment – Bobo catching a touchdown pass; Smith-Njigba running the ball in for six points. So fun!

Today there was a man seated in the comfy chair, watching the highlights with a smile on his face. I recognized him as the man who worked in the big bookstore in the Cascade Mall maybe 30 or 35 years ago. We exchanged smiles and greetings and watched the highlights together for a bit.

There were so many sweet toddlers in Fred’s today – and, being the grandmother of a toddler, I find myself wanting to exchange smiles with each and every sweet one of them. Such joy!

I ran into an old teaching colleague, Rob, at Fred’s. I tailgated him with my cart until he finally turned around to see who was behind him, and then his face lit up in recognition. He smiled and asked how I was doing. I said, “You know…” I asked him how he was doing and he said, “Same.” We gave each other a hug and wished each other a good day and exchanged one more smile before we moved on.

There was a young man in the store – early thirties maybe – and we kept passing each other in the produce section. Every time we’d pass each other, we’d smile. And this young man’s smile was so genuine and kind that I got a sudden image of what he would have looked like as a smiling toddler – and that put a grin on my face.

After I was done with my shopping, I went to the in-store Starbucks to get myself something to drink. There were a couple people waiting in line in front of me. I saw that the barista was manning the counter all by herself – busily whipping up coffees for the people who’d already ordered. And I came to a decision. I leaned into the people in front of me – a woman of maybe my age and a younger woman with a young child in her cart – and I said that I wanted to buy their drinks for them – that way the barista would only have to ring up one transaction.

The younger woman, Kelsey, said she’d feel guilty letting me pay, but the woman of about my age, Shelly, knew that I really wanted to do this for them, and convinced Kelsey to agree to my offer. By this time another young woman had gotten behind us, and I said I wanted to take care of her, too. She initially resisted, but eventually gave in and let me buy for her. I told them that I really needed to do this for MYSELF today.

And so when it was our turn, I stepped up and ordered two cake pops (one each for the younger women’s children), an iced caramel macchiato for Kelsey, and a “senior coffee” for Shelly to bring to her husband, and a hot caramel macchiato for myself. Everyone thanked me, and Shelly said she was going to be sure to “pay it forward” later in the day. It’s amazing how much joy I got from connecting with those women.

There were more smiles as I exited Fred’s with my cart and drink – a customer smiled and motioned for me to go ahead of him; a Fred’s employee who was walking out of the store in front of me, turned around and offered a big smile; another employee smiled and wished me a good day. These little exchanges – these little kindness in life are powerful, my friends.

I smiled the whole way home.

I walk with Love along the way,
And O, it is a holy day;
No more I suffer cruel fear,
I feel God’s presence with me here;
The joy that none can take away
Is mine; I walk with Love today.
– Christian Science Hymnal #139

Find It! Celebrate It! Share It!

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My dear Humoristian hooligans –
There is still joy in this world. There is still beauty. There is still love.
Your mission today:
Find it! Celebrate it! Share it!
Karen

I set a mission for my fellow Humoristian hooligans to find joy, beauty, and love today, and then I went in search of these things myself. And I found them!

I roused myself from my comfy chair and went to the courthouse for the noon rally. I got there early and there was only one other person holding down the corner. He told me his name was Christian, this was the first time he’d been to a rally, and he’d walked all the way from the college to be there. He told me he was autistic. I told him I was proud of him for being there.

I’d come all decked out in my Seahawks paraphernalia today. This came in handy. At one point a man, stopped in front of me in his truck, gave my TRUTH JUSTICE KINDNESS sign a thumbs down. I grinned and revealed my Seahawks shirt and yelled, “Seahawks?” to him. He laughed and gave me a thumbs up . As he drove through the intersection we smiled and waved at each other. A man and woman gave me a thumbs up for my sign, and then when I showed them my Seahawks shirt they gave me a DOUBLE thumbs up. A sheriff’s deputy waved to me and gave me a thumbs up as he turned to go to the sheriff’s office.

The support and love the community showed to us today gave me hope for our world.

By the time I left, the corners were packed with people and signs. I told Christian to look at what he’d started. He smiled and said it was great to see so many people there.

On the way home I went though West Mount Vernon and then through Bay View and down the hill into the valley. And this is when I found the murmuration of snow geese. It was inspiring to watch these beautiful birds winging together in perfect harmony.

And now we’re driving home from the Illuminight celebration on the Mount Vernon revetment. The celebration was so fun! I bought an illuminary ball from Travis and Summer, the owners of Tr-Dee Arts; officers, there to keep everyone safe, allowed me to take their picture (I explained I’m a boomer and so it’s going to end up on Facebook, of course – oh, and I’m a Karen, too. They laughed at that.); I met Lyle, who’d made her very own illuminary with a simple paper bag; Tieron let me take a picture of him holding his instrument – he was going to be a part of one of the musical acts tonight; and the La Venture Middle School Marimba Band was fantastic! They played with such irrepressible joy! I had the cosmic good fortune to find myself standing next to Erik, the father of one of the marimba players, and I had tears in my eyes when I told him how much I’d needed that music tonight.

Beauty, joy, love!

You can find my video of today’s snow geese sighting at this Youtube link: https://youtu.be/rHAiIz7S2u8
And another one: https://youtu.be/_MFor8r-2hY

“She’s Chatty!”

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My thanks to employee Robby at Fred Meyer’s who stopped what he was doing to come help me get the item I wanted from the toppiest shelf. Robby was very cool.

I took a moment to tell a father with an unhappy child in his cart what a good job he was doing – I saw his patience and calm as he talked his son through a difficult moment. He grinned and thanked me for noticing.

As I was going through the checkout I chatted and connected with my cashier, Patty, who is a former neighbor of mine. Then I turned to the woman sitting in a wheelchair behind me in line, and said, “Hello!” I think I took her by surprise because she got a big grin on her face before giving me a hello back. The man who was with her – her son maybe? – smiled at me, too. The woman said to Patty (referring to me), “She’s chatty.” And Patty laughed and explained that we used to be old neighbors. “We go waaay back,” I said, laughing.

I got to the door to exit, and there was another woman there, preparing to head out into the parking lot. It was dumping rain out there, and the woman and I looked at the rain and then at each other and started spontaneously laughing. “Hoods up!” I said, bringing my hood over my head. She pointed out that she didn’t have a hood. I gave her a quick nod, like we were comrades going into battle, and wished her good luck. She smiled and returned my good wishes.

I’d Been Waiting for Years to Capture This Moment

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I love Cy of Village Books. She never fails to make me smile. Today she was bopping all over the store – cashiering, manning the information desk, fetching books, giving people (me) the key to the restroom – AND she took the time to spend a few minutes chatting with me about how to prepare the perfect turkey for Thanksgiving (it involves putting an orange inside it). She brings me joy.

Regarding the cormorant photo – I belong to a group called “Crap Bird Photography” – and I’ve been waiting for maybe years to capture this moment. I don’t think any further explanation is necessary. 🙂

I was standing behind a young man at Wood’s who had a cap that said “annoyed” on the back of it and – maybe because I’m a former middle school teacher? – this just totally tickled me. I debated tapping him on the shoulder to find out more about his cap – but… would that be annoying? 😃 Finally, I could not help myself and I tapped. He turned around (he looked very much like my eldest son!) and I told him I liked his hat and asked him about it. He smiled and explained that “annoyed” was a brand name, and then he graciously agreed to let me get a photo.

At the top of the ramp to Taylor Dock I looked over and saw a sweet little family of deer – a doe and two youngsters – grazing just behind the fence. They didn’t seem at all perturbed by my snapping camera, and calmly moved underneath the ramp to munch on the apples under the tree, and get out of the drizzle.

The lights in Fairhaven were beautiful last night – reflected on the wet sidewalks and Village Green.

Today a Rocket Scientist Worked on My Car

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Today a rocket scientist changed out the cabin filter in my car.

I set aside this morning to run errands: oil change, car tab renewal, bank, grocery shopping.

I thought I’d start with the one that most scared me: the oil change. I’m always a little scared I’m going to drive my car into the pit.

I got to Valvoline pretty early, and was the second car in line. While I was waiting to face my terror and drive over the pit, Ashlee came back to check my tire pressure, and to see if my lights were working. (All good!) I saw she had a *Star Trek* belt and asked her if she was a Star Trek fan – she said what she really enjoyed was *The Big Bang Theory* – and her favorite character on there was a Trekkie. I loved that Ashlee was a Big Bang fan – anyone who enjoyed that show is okay by me. 🙂

A fearless young man directed me over the pit. I thanked him for bringing me in safely and he said, “You’re welcome” – like he understood that this was serious business for me.

Everything was looking good – battery, brake fluid, and etc. Then the young woman who was ringing me up asked me how my air conditioner was working, and wondered if I might want the cabin filter changed. I had never, in the decade I’ve owned this car, had the cabin filter in it changed. It seemed like a good idea to take care of that.

She asked me if she could come around and get into the passenger side of the car, and I nodded. She opened the passenger door, and then pulled down my glove compartment box and it was like opening a secret door! There was a whole ‘nother world hidden back there!

At this point she went to get Zach, the manager. Zach is like a comic book Super Hero. I long ago discovered his brilliance when he helped me reset my old Ford Fiesta standard transmission maintenance light. The fact that he could even drive a standard transmission was cool – but knowing how to turn off that maintenance light – knowing the just right order to push which pedal and how long to hold it – that was epic.

Zach pulled out the glove compartment box completely, and then removed a panel below it, and, as he was doing this, he was pointing things out to me and explaining what he was doing, and I actually understood what he was saying! I asked him if he’d ever thought of being a teacher – he’d make a good one – and he told me he had considered that – and he knew there would be parts of teaching he’d like – but he could also see himself losing his patience sometimes, and he thought that probably wouldn’t be a good thing.

Zach was working in a very small space in my car – contorted between the passenger seat and the shield under the glove box. When I expressed sympathy to him, he told me he’d worked in smaller spaces, and this is when I learned he’d been a designer for a race car team when he was a student at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona. (!)

A rocket scientist was working on my car.

For personal reasons, he’d dropped out before he’d completed his degree, but he told me that he was currently enrolled in an online program through Embry-Riddle – the old credits on his transcripts had transferred into the online program – and he was working on finishing up his degree with hopes of getting into a career in aeronautical engineering.

It took Zach probably 20 minutes to get that cabin filter replaced – he’s one of the few people in the Valvoline chain trained and trusted to do this procedure, and I felt really lucky that he was there today. I had such fun chatting with Zach for those twenty minutes. I learned that he’d grown up in a town in Oregon, where his parents had both been pediatricians, and that he loved his mom and dad, but liked the freedom of living up here and being able to create his own life with his wife (whom he’d met at Embry-Riddle and is herself employed as an aeronautical engineer).

Every now and then, while Zach was working on my car, his younger Valvoline teammates would come back and check with him to make sure they were doing things right. I loved the rapport I saw between Zach and the younger technicians. I could see respect and appreciation there. I could see Zach teaching.

After he was all done, I asked him if I could give him a hug – I told him it felt like he was one of my kids. He grinned and we exchanged a hug, and I drove away smiling.

Yup. Today a rocket scientist worked on my little car. How cool is that?!

A New Magazine That Brings Us Renewal

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Excerpt from “Connecting 101: Karen Molenaar Terrell’s Lab Class on Love” from the newest edition of Renewal, published and edited by Constance Mears:
“This consciousness of cosmic connection goes beyond basic friendliness. For Karen, it’s informed by her beliefs as a Christian Scientist.”

Every month my friend, Constance, brings us inspiration, beauty and wisdom in her online magazine, “Renewal.” She brings us magic.

This month “Renewal” prepares us for Thanksgiving – for sitting down around the table with family and friends and celebrating (or rebuilding) our connections with one another.

Author Shannon Willis speaks of the importance of putting down our devices and sharing our stories with each other.

Connie talks about the tradition of gratitude, and the healing that comes from building a shrine to what’s important to us.

And look! There’s me! 😃 Connie interviewed me to get my thoughts on connection.

You can read the magazine by clicking this link and then either downloading the magazine (this issue has happy ducks on the cover) or tapping on the little “full screen” box under the cover, and clicking the arrow to turn the page. (This works best on a full-sized computer.): https://www.constancemears.com/renewal/