Fateful Encounter
Thursday, April 5, 2012 at 01:02PM 
Every once in awhile, not very often, a set of circumstances come together unexpectedly and when that happens it gives me pause and stops me in my tracks and I spend days processing the details. I had this happen to me recently and it really set me to wondering, coincidence or meant to be.
Last week during coffee hour at church I was standing with my daughter and she looked over at another woman and said "oh look she has a Kooba". I looked to where she was pointing and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. She could tell I was puzzled so she said "Mom her bag is a Kooba and it's very expensive. " Oh really, what the hell is a Kooba and why is it so expensive." Jenna then told me that she also had a Kooba and that she got hers on E-Bay. Jenna is a smart E-Bay shopper. I am not. Both times that I purchased high price items they came from China and believe me it is not easy to do a return to China. Let's just say I got taken. I don't do E-Bay anymore.
Since I knew this woman very well, Jenna and I went to talk to her and we both remarked about her Kooba and with a smile on her face she declared, "I love my Kooba", and told us the story of how she found it in New York at a great sale. Her daughter also told her about it. It sounds like we would all be fashion freaks without our daughters. Now I am not one who wants to be out of the loop so I thought, well I'll go home and look that little (big) Kooba up to see what I've been missing and what makes it so expensive and why have I never heard of this so very soft leather bag.
Needless to say when I got home I forgot all about that bag. The next day though, after coming out of the dentist, maybe I was looking for comfort, I remembered that bag so I called my daughter because by now 24 hours had passed and of course I forgot the name of the damn bag. I told her that I forgot to look it up and just wanted to know the name so that if I ever came across it I would know what I was looking at. I do a lot of shopping and poking at re-sale shops and hey I need to know these things. We hung up and before you know it I was at Trader Joe's and had moved on from the bag.
One last stop before heading home, I had a return to do at TJ MAXX and I promised myself no looking because I will spend money and waste my precious Monday, one of two days that I get the house to myself and I revel in that time. Anyone who knows TJ Maxx knows that upon entering the store the first section on the left is the pocketbook section. How much time can one quick look take. I really need a new black purse since mine just went to the re-sale shop...a tiny peek. My favorite peeking place is always the clearance rack. I whip around the corner and nearly dropped on the floor as a great big Kooba tag caught my eye, not 10 minutes after talking to my daughter. My first response was "Holy Shit". This can't be happening. How could that bag, that I had never heard of before yesterday, in the color that I want (brown) in the size that I need, be staring at me in TJ Maxx. Just breath. This is to weird and I am rooted to the floor, like bees to honey, trying to sort this out. I pick it up and check the inside. It's authentic, it's soft, it's strong and now it's testing me. I call Jenna right away with shaking hands, whispering so no other woman in the store will hear the word Kooba and fight me for it. I don't even dare to put it in my cart for fear while I'm looking at something else some one who knows more than I do will come along and steal it from me. Jenna's response is "Mom why are you going on about the bag, you didn't even know about it yesterday and it's a lot of money". I know its' a lot of money but it's on CLEARANCE. It's on clearance because people who shop at TJ Maxx don't know anymore about it than you do and even on clearance they can't afford it.
O.K. so that's the story but that is not what this is really about. What this is about is how could that have happened. Was it fate. Was it what I call "meant to be". Was it the devil messing with my mind. I have always gone by the premise that nothing happens by accident. All encounters are meant to be and depending on what you do about them or when the encounter happens somehow it becomes a part of you. Like if someone wasn't somewhere on a certain day or at just the right time then they wouldn't have meet someone and they would never have hooked up. Of if you hadn't left the house late you could have been in a terrible accident that happened on the route you travel every day at the time you would have gotten there. I ponder these things and I believe that when we are confronted with a set of circumstances it does make us stop and think of the "bigger meaning". It happens to all of us and depending on the outcome we know that something cosmic has happened. Why, why me, why now. If I had never gone into TJ Maxx that pocketbook would have gone home with someone else and I wouldn't have cared. But I did see it and it became a catalyst for me to once again exam how these things happen and why. Is it bigger than we know or is it just that I wouldn't have noticed if that conversation hadn't happened the day before.
So here's what I think after many hours of processing this event. I think that bag was "meant to be". Why else was it there. Yes it was expensive, even on clearance, but I knew it was highly unlikely that I would run into that bag again. Did I need it. No, but at my age it's not always about need anymore, it's simply about want. I wanted it. There it was in my color and so now it's in my home, still in it's bag. See the other thing I told myself is, I better take it and I can always return it but if I don't take it and someone comes along knowing what a Kooba is...I'd be telling you a different story today...
So I wonder about that fateful encounter and it gives me pause to wonder about other fateful encounters in my life and I hope for the most part I've chosen the right road and came up with the right answer when each dilemma accured. We never know do we or maybe sometimes we do. The Kooba is small potatoes compared to most fateful encounter's.....are you pondering some of your own right now..
I think I need to go ponder getting lunch..Have the best day.
Kindness Matters.
Reader Comments (2)
Oh I LOVE this post! I was laughing out loud... very loudly... for most of it - I recognise so much of what you say & also I got another window into your world & I loved it. And I like your pondering... pondering is GOOD.
I'm glad you found your 'meant-to-be-bag'... I think it was a specially arranged present from someone who loves you very much :-) I also love clearances & sales - have got some of my favourite things that way.
Have a wonderful Easter my friend,
Gxxx
Oh Gwen we more we get together the more we relate and like each other..we meed a visit..I love resale, high end of course, LOL and like you I have found some great and unique things that way..I think it's good to ponder also. It sorts things out doesn't it and life is just so darn weird sometimes. My Kooba is now in my closet and every once in awhile I got in and give it a pat.
Thanks so much for stopping by and Happy Easter to you and yours..xoxo