Life Has It Covered

Last week, while walking to work, I noticed a vehicle parked on the street. It had super cool seat covers. They had the pattern that I often see on hats, backpacks, ponchos, hoodies and wallets that I sometimes buy from a little hippie import shop on Salt Spring Island.

It is called The Wardrobe.

A few days went by. I kept seeing this vehicle with its super cool seat covers. I almost kept walking, but something made me stop. I took out my wallet and retrieved one of my business cards. I wrote on the back, asking where they got the seat covers. I slipped it into the driver’s side window frame.

Then I carried on with my day.

At the end of the day, as I was walking home from work, I saw that the vehicle and the note were still there.

I got home and did a few things. And later on, I got a text message. It was an unknown number. The message said they got my note and told me they got the seat covers on Amazon. I texted back and explained the whole hippie island vibe and not knowing what the pattern was called. The sender said that if I searched for ‘boho seat covers’, I should be able to find them. I said thank you and that was that.

The next morning I got ready to head out and meet a new friend for tea.

We were supposed to meet at a pub, at 9:30 in the morning. This was weird, to be meeting in a place like that, at that time of day. But I went. I got there right on time and walked in. It was dimly lit, with only a few people sitting at the VLTs.

The decor was decent.

So I sat and waited. And while waiting, I checked my phone. A message came in just then from my new friend. She said she was going to be there in a few minutes. So I sat and waited. And while waiting, I became aware of a heavy smell of deep fried grease filling the air from the kitchen. It made me sick.

And I decided I didn’t want to stay there.

So I got up and headed towards the door. I was going to stand and wait for my new friend outside. But as I got to the door, I turned around for one last look at the place. I don’t know why. And when I turned back around, she was standing there, right in front of me.

I said hello and asked if we could go somewhere else. I explained why. She said sure. We headed out and across the street to a cafe. We got a table and started talking. A short time later, our server came up to me and told me that her coworker said to tell me that she really loved my hat. It is a patchwork floppy hippie hat that ALWAYS gets more love than I do, every time I wear it.

I told her to say thank you.

She said I could tell her myself. I turned around to see a young woman with a bit of a hippie look approaching. She had the biggest smile on her face and in her eyes. She walked up saying again how much she loved my hat. She asked where I got it. I told her I got it at the Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal. She didn’t say anything.

She looked at me. I looked at her. She still didn’t say anything.

I looked at her coworker. She looked at me. I looked back at the young woman.

She looked at me.

I looked at her.

I explained that it was on Vancouver Island near Victoria, and where you went to get to the other smaller islands. She lit up at this and said her and some friends were going that way this summer. I said that was very cool, and that judging by her vibe, she would totally love Salt Spring Island. She said she needed to write that down and that she would definitely check it out. I said that if I was her age again, I would have started my life out there, instead of staying in Manitoba.

She seemed inspired by that. She praised my hat again and I said thank you (again) and she went back to work.

I went back to talking to my new friend.

A while later, my new friend got up to use the washroom. So I sat and waited. And while waiting, I thought about the girl and the island, and I turned around to see her standing right behind me. I motioned her over. I took out my wallet and retrieved one of my business cards. I handed it to her and told her to feel free to reach out with any questions about the island, where to go and what to see and do, or even about living there. She took the card from me and said she would.

She looked at the card.

And she looked at me.

I looked at her.

She looked back at me.

I looked back at her.

Her eyes went wide.

Her jaw dropped and she broke into a big smile.

She said her girlfriend found one of my cards on her vehicle the day before, with a note asking about her seat covers!

My jaw dropped.

My eyes went wide.

I looked at her.

She looked back at me.

I said that was amazing! And we both babbled excitedly back and forth.

And then she said that she was the one who bought her girlfriend the seat covers.

My mind was blown.

If I had never stopped to leave that note, and if I had stayed at the pub to meet my new friend, these things would never have aligned like they did.

But they did.

So I say take a seat…

Life has it covered.