{"id":4262,"date":"2013-05-24T04:43:47","date_gmt":"2013-05-24T11:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/?p=4262"},"modified":"2013-05-24T01:42:08","modified_gmt":"2013-05-24T08:42:08","slug":"happy-friday-randomness-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/?p=4262","title":{"rendered":"Happy Friday + Randomness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“Pattern – Pink” in watercolor and gouache<\/em><\/p>\n

Happy Friday! If you’ve been around here for awhile, these things are abundantly clear:<\/p>\n

1. I sew all the time
\n2. I write all the time
\n3. I go to Trader Joe’s all the time<\/p>\n

Yesterday, I was at TJ’s as usual, and as usual, I struck up a conversation with the clerk, a compact, sun-tanned and energetic man I would put in his fifties. Maybe it’s because I spend a lot of time alone, but I constantly find myself in deep conversations with shop clerks and crossing guards and baristas.<\/p>\n

So the TJ cashier and I start chatting innocuously about the weather, which leads to surfing (he’s a surfer), which leads to natural disasters and BAM, he tells me the sweetest love story and I am practically bawling at the checkout counter. At first he casually tossed out how his wife’s house survived a hurricane in Florida (a house, by the way, that she built by herself from scratch, hauling concrete in a wheel barrow for the foundation) and that she moved out to Seattle just recently. \u00a0Huh? “Oh, we just got married a year ago.”<\/p>\n

The story went like this: they met when they were 11. They dated when they were 14. They grew up, grew apart, married different people, had kids. Decades later, they discovered that they were single again, living thousands of miles apart (him: Seattle, her: Florida) and a couple of years ago he decided to call her up on her birthday. For the next six months, they talked\/emailed nearly every day and one day he asked her, “Hey, you want to go to New York?” “Yes!” she said. He flew to Newark, she drove from Florida to pick him up, and there, driving toward the heart of NY, they knew. They decided to get married. He gently placed the last bag in my cart and said, “It was first love, then true love all these years later. Receipt in the bag or with you?”<\/p>\n

I can’t get enough of these kinds of stories. I don’t think it diminishes what he had with his first wife and he spoke lovingly of his kids, but I am entranced with the idea of rediscovery and second chances and unexpected happiness in a less talked about phase in life. I left Trader Joe’s swiping at my eyes and feeling very sappy.<\/p>\n

*******************************************************************************<\/p>\n

This reference may be lost on those who aren’t familiar with Justin Bieber’s music<\/a>, but this was a classic K moment:<\/p>\n

K: Do you know Justin Bieber?<\/p>\n

Me: Yep.<\/p>\n

K: Yeah, he’s great. He’s a beaver that really really loves babies!*<\/p>\n

*Just in case it wasn’t clear, she thought a beaver was singing the seminal Bieber song “Baby, Baby, Baby”<\/em><\/p>\n

*******************************************************************************<\/p>\n

Have a terrific weekend, friends! If you are in the US, hope you have a fun-filled long weekend planned.<\/p>\n

Memorial Day<\/em>
\nmarks the end of spring for me<\/em>
\nSummer, here we come\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Pattern – Pink” in watercolor and gouache Happy Friday! If you’ve been around here for awhile, these things are abundantly clear: 1. I sew all the time 2. I write all the time 3. I go to Trader Joe’s all the time Yesterday, I was at TJ’s as usual, and as usual, I struck up a conversation with the clerk, a compact, sun-tanned and energetic man I would put in his fifties. Maybe it’s because I spend a lot of time alone, but I constantly find myself in deep conversations with shop clerks and crossing guards and baristas. So the TJ cashier and I start chatting innocuously about the weather, which leads to surfing (he’s a surfer), which leads to natural disasters and BAM, he tells me the sweetest love story and I am practically bawling at the checkout counter. At first he casually tossed out how his wife’s house survived a hurricane in Florida (a house, by the way, that she built by herself from scratch, hauling concrete in a wheel barrow for the foundation) and that she moved out to Seattle just recently. \u00a0Huh? “Oh, we just got married a year ago.” The story went like this: they met when they were 11. They dated when they were 14. They grew up, grew apart, married different people, had kids. Decades later, they discovered that they were single again, living thousands of miles apart (him: Seattle, her: Florida) and a couple of years ago he decided to call her up on her birthday. For the next six months, they talked\/emailed nearly every day and one day he asked her, “Hey, you want to go to New York?” “Yes!” she said. He flew to Newark, she drove from Florida to pick him up, and there, driving toward the heart of NY, they knew. They decided to get married. He gently placed the last bag in my cart and said, “It was first love, then true love all these years later. Receipt in the bag or with you?” I can’t get enough of these kinds of stories. I don’t think it diminishes what he had with his first wife and he spoke lovingly of his kids, but I am entranced with the idea of rediscovery and second chances and unexpected happiness in a less talked about phase in life. I left Trader Joe’s swiping at my eyes and feeling very sappy. ******************************************************************************* This reference may be lost on those who aren’t familiar with Justin Bieber’s music, but this was a classic K moment: K: Do you know Justin Bieber? Me: Yep. K: Yeah, he’s great. He’s a beaver that really really loves babies!* *Just in case it wasn’t clear, she thought a beaver was singing the seminal Bieber song “Baby, Baby, Baby” ******************************************************************************* Have a terrific weekend, friends! If you are in the US, hope you have a fun-filled long weekend planned. Memorial Day marks the end of spring for me Summer, here we come\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,33],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4262","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-life","7":"category-writing","8":"entry","9":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4262"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4265,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4262\/revisions\/4265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}