Always Love

A few weeks into our kite adventure on Hampton Beach, I went through a really rough patch.  Jim and I had a very stressful year.  We had just come out of it when we decided to start our business.  Getting ready to move to New Hampshire occupied our every minute for two weeks.  Once we got up here we started setting up shop and house.  Finally, I had a chance to relax and help run our business when I crashed.  The stress from the previous year and all the excitement of the past few weeks had caught up with me.  I became very emotional, very insecure, my back start really hurting me and I was very sad.  I was just falling apart and didn’t feel I was on firm ground.

I had taken a day off from work to get myself on the right track again.  Jim set me up in our bed, gave me a strong pill for my back and left me with the clicker (I watched a few episodes of The Love Boat and felt much better!).

When I joined Jim at the Kite Shop later that day, I was feeling better physically but still very emotional.  I had just finished a little crying episode when a customer came in and bought a dual line stunt kite and needed to learn how to fly it.  Jim and the man went out on the beach for a lesson.  When Jim returned to the store he handed me a little piece of driftwood with the words ALWAYS LOVE carved in it.  He said “I found this on the beach and brought it back for you”.  He then told me how the sentiment was true and then said all kinds of nice things that I needed to hear to help me get over my “funk”.  I silently thanked the universe for putting this little piece of salvation in Jim’s path.  I put it on the register and continued helping customers.

An hour later a couple in their late 20s/early 30s came into the store.  They reminded me of hippies from back in the 70s.  They were all free love, long hair, California-ish, and oddly, they were attached to each other by the pointer finger with a Chinese Finger Trap.

I asked what this was all about and they said the just wanted to spend the day together as close as possible.  They had spent the morning on the beach, had lunch like this, played mini golf and were now going to fly a kite together.  Krystal was from New Hampshire and Brian was from California.  They had met in Santa Barbara six months ago and had fallen madly in love at first sight.  This was only their second time together.

They picked out a lovely butterfly kite which I think fit their personality perfectly.

As they approached the register, Krystal said “OH!  You found my love” and pointed to my driftwood.  She explained that Brian was a solar artist and did solar pyrography(writing with the fire from the sun) or as Brian coined the phrase “solar carving”.  They had spent the day finding little pieces of driftwood and etching words on them using a magnifying glass and the sun and then leaving them (or gifting them) in the sand for people to find.

I told them how Jim found it, brought it to me and lifted the dark cloud that had settled over my soul – it was exactly the message I needed and I thanked them for leaving it for us!  We all got a little teary eyed and shared a group hug (Jim was giving another lesson at this point and didn’t get to share in the love fest – he was happy about that!).  It’s funny how sometimes things align – how they all come together – to give you exactly what you need.  That doesn’t happen to me a lot and for this particular gift from the universe – and from Brian and Krystal – I will always be grateful and treasure my driftwood love always.

Dawn & Jim

P.S.  Check out our Facebook page for more pictures!