Monday, October 22, 2007 8:36 am
"A wonderful time was had by all"
Communicated from my Higher Self
The weather changed which always initiates a new chapter. A big wind is blowing in from the north. It has been blowing all night. It is crystal clear out there because of the wind. The tree branches are shaking in it. It knocked everything off the desk and tables in Annie’s house, because she has open windows and open doors. Not everything, but everything light and papery. The napkins from the pizza parlor she went to two days ago, are now a trail all over house. And it opened wide the cupboard doors. It blew on her all night as she slept, she had to sleep in long sleeves. And the last of the summer fans got shut off. The cold wind from the north is the first breath of winter. A huge blow just came in, it is knocking the trees all around. Well this is definitely a radical change in weather. O that is the sound of the north wind blowing. The north wind is changing everything.
It went from summer to winter with nothing in between.
She had a great time shopping yesterday. It was just what the doctor ordered. She did not have to rush, because Bill was going to 3 stores for himself, and he likes to take a long time deciding what he wants. She went to the clearance rack at Lane Bryant, but it was the wrong time for bargains. Everything on the clearance rack was expensive and not that nice. Even in the expensive new clothes, there was nothing which appealed to her, altho there was one red blouse which was cute.
She had made a few selections at the clearance rack, when the woman saleslady she recognized came over to say "hi" and asked if she wanted help.
Annie said "I found this bunch," showing her the armful, "I thought maybe you could tell me how much they are, and help me choose. But first show me where the cotton sweaters are. Last winter, the girl said she bought 3 of them, and she never takes them off, they are perfect for our cold mornings, and so I bought 3 on clearance, and I never took them off, they are perfect for our cold mornings. And I thought I would have them for this winter, but remember that cold morning we had two months ago, I got one out to wear, and it looked like I had worn it all winter and never taken it off. I thought I would buy a fresh one."
She said "they are not on clearance, they are our new winter clothes."
Annie said "that is ok, show me one you love."
She said "this is the one I bought for myself, and I love it. I know the sleeves are not long but I get hot easily. And I love this one. I got the one in black, but here are the other colors."
And Annie decided to buy it, because she has good luck when the salesladies buy something for themselves, and it turns out to be an item they wear all the time and they love.
"Show me what else is very pretty, because I don’t come here very often." And the saleslady showed her the cute red blouse. It was cute but way too expensive. And the other tops the saleslady showed her, because she loved them and bought them for herself, are not Annie’s style.
So Annie took the black cotton knit sweater, but it has short sleeves or maybe 2/3rds, and all the items from the clearance rack, to the cash register, and she told Annie what the new price is. Everything is 40 per cent off what the price tag says. And altogether it came to $82 which was a lot more than Annie wanted to pay. So they looked at every item carefully, together, and she gave her input. One blouse had a broken belt, but Annie didn’t like the belt anyway. So she said she would give her additional 40 percent off on that, and then she made it an additional 50 percent.
And so then it was narrowed down to the black sweater and two blouses, the one with the broken belt and another one. And then she looked up the number for Annie’s Lane Bryant credit card, so she could have additional 10 per cent off. And when she finished everything, it came to exactly $50. "Just what you wanted to spend" she said. It had been a long consultation to arrive at that. They had discussed every item they were removing from the pile, and Annie loved the long consultation. She doesn’t understand why people prefer to buy on internet. She likes to see the item before her eyes, to see what it really looks like. And she loves the long consultation with the sales ladies, she appreciates their expertise and input so much, and she loves the relationship. And it was nice not be rushed. When he waits in the car she must do everything in 30 seconds. Never has she had the time to take all the time in the world and purely enjoy herself like this.
When she finished Bill was back in the car, and said "let me show you the Colorado Rockies hat I found at Sports Authority, it is only 15 dollars, and you said you wanted to give it to me for my birthday present." "I do! I do! I do!" she said. He had already bought the tube for the bike, and the man had put it in the wheel, but he had not yet gone to the art store, he decided to skip the art store. He took a long time choosing which one of the hats he wanted, he examined each one for imperfections. But then he brought it to cash register and she paid for it. "Do you like it?" he said. "It is stunning" she said. And it is.
Then she said "why don’t you go to the art store, you are out of drawing paper and pencils and I’ll go to Ross to look for a new swim bag." And he agreed. She needs a new swim bag. The plastic one she got at start of summer for 5 dollars is indestructible, but all the bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, opened up in the heat of summer and the bottom of swim bag is huge awful glob, plus the bar of soap melted into it.
She found one made of pink plastic which she liked, it was in the pocketbook section. But when she was walking to cash register with it, she saw another one, also in pocketbook section, which was cloth but had some interesting design, it caught her eye. And so she brought both over, and asked the sales girl, who said "the one with the design is cuter, plus bigger, you can put your towel in there too." So she bought it with a box of Christmas cards. "Do you like these? Are there better ones?" Annie asked. She said "I haven’t looked, but this one is nice, it has all the animals and the Christmas tree and it’s pretty." So Annie bought it.
When she got outside and into the light, she saw her new swim bag was not just an abstract design. It had pictures on it and words and when she saw the words she thought, "o my god! is this what I want!" It said "the mark of the beast and 666." And she thought "maybe I should give this to Bill, it will tickle his sense of humor." But when she saw Bill and said "do you want this?" he looked at it, and said "it is an Andy Warhol bag, I don’t want Andy Warhol." She had no idea it said Andy Warhol on it, she really had no idea what she had bought. He said "take it back! I don’t want it." So she said "I didn’t really buy it for you, I bought it for me, I think I’ll keep it." It had pictures of one dollar bill and big pictures of George Washington from the one dollar bill all over it. And all over the inside it said "mark of the beast," "666," and "Andy Warhol." It is some Andy Warhol franchise.
She was appalled but I convinced her to keep it. The one she had really liked, that she had seen a month ago, was exquisite plastic bag perfectly shaped with the most beautiful pinks and yellows on it. She loved it. Perfectly designed, shoulder bag. But I said "It is a diaper bag, you won’t feel comfortable with diaper bag as your swim bag, you will think everyone will recognize it is a diaper bag. The Andy Warhol bag is exciting, each time you look at it, you will have excitement that it says all these things, and has these odd pictures, and that it is Andy Warhol. It will give stimulation, it will remind of New York, and it is a nice bag and perfect for you."
I thought it was good for her to have mixed emotions about her swim bag. She uses her swim bag every single day of her life, and every day for 6 months she will look at it and have mixed emotions. As she read in that Heaven Letter, taken down by Gloria from God, few days ago, this new transition -- even tho it means waking up from the dream, waking up to reality, and leaving the dream -- is experienced at first, as being in a dream state. And it feels peculiar to her that everything feels so dreamy. Little jolts of excitement are good for her now. Like someone snapping their fingers in front of her face. Where she opens up her eyes wide.
The whole shopping trip was designed to give her that, which it did. Excitement coursed thru her all thru it. She loved it. She felt so alive. And this Andy Warhol bag will perk her up too each time she looks at it. Which will be about 15 times a day, she will perk up.
"Now I want my snack" she said, when she got back to the truck, "I’ll go to Eegees." He said "I can't drive there, it is a barrier." She said "I’ll walk." But when she walked directly in front of her, it was the back door to Long John Silver, the fish shop. So she thought "good, I’ve never been in the fish shop, it will be a change." And she asked the counter man what everyone orders, and he said "they get a number 15, which is two slices of fish, french fries, hush puppies, coleslaw, and a drink." She said "I’ll get that." He said "we have managers special, for one dollar more, you get 3 slices of fish, with all the rest." She said "I’ll take that."
She brought it back to the truck and Bill noticed an imperfection in the hat, a thread was loose, so he said "I’m bringing the hat back." She said "good, I can eat my lunch." And it was all delicious. She loved it. Altho she saved one of the pieces of fried fish, and half of the French fries and one of the hush puppies for Bill to have for snack after the ballgame. She thought he will enjoy it. He returned with the hat. He said "the manager took out a tiny scissors and clipped off the thread, and it is a nothing, all the hats have it." And "what do you think of my hat?" "It is stunning" she said, "and it really looks good on you." So he was very happy and so was she. She loved her purchases, and she was so happy eating her lunch. She loved her lunch.
"What a perfect time I had," she thought, "this was great."
And they set off for the library. All her favorite books had come in and were waiting for her, and Bill was gracious to take her to pick them up.
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