Yesterday, by the end of the day, I was a touch tetchy.

First of all, I loathe dress shopping.  This is for many reasons (including that I don’t especially love shopping at all) but the bottom line is, I dread it deeply.

Second, the man is sick.  And he’s never sick, so although he soldiers on, it’s a little inconvenient for him to be sick when we have not one, but two holiday shindigs this weekend.

Third, I’d had an absolutely terrible dinner.  I mean, catastrophically bad.  But … that’s a story for another day.

Needless to say, I was grumpy as I made my way through the racks of clothing at Kohls on my endless (and still unfulfilled) mission to find a dress for the man’s office festivities tomorrow night.  I was trying (not very hard) to NOT look like I wanted to kill everyone in my path.  Out of seemingly nowhere, a Kohls worker appeared, laden with mismatched clothing.  She smiled and made a nonchalant comment.  I half heard her, and half-heartedly smiled/nodded.  She seemed to be in far too good a mood for the stormy tempest that my world had shaped into (admittedly at my own doing).

And then I noticed that she had the.most.fabulous.earrings.

And since I felt that I was in desperate need of some good karma my way, I flung it out into the atmosphere, with the idea that it might loop back to me eventually, like a boomerang.

“I completely love your earrings.  They are fabulous.”

She turned to me, and her whole face was lit up by her smile.  It was sort of amazing, how much happiness she radiated, in contrast to my dark cloud of grumpiness.

“Thanks!” There was just no way that her good mood wouldn’t have been contagious.  I genuinely returned her smile.  The earrings, long and dangly and looping through themselves, were the epitome of th kind of earrings that I love.  I repeated my compliment, staring almost lovingly at the wood and silver jewelry. She laughed at my expression, saying as she worked, “I have a bunch of pairs like this ~ I love them, too.  Just so much fun, y’know?”

I nodded.  “They are truly gorgeous.”  Somehow, my spirits, so heavy just moments ago, felt lighter.  Here was a person, putting chaos back in order at a department store during the holidays, who seemed so utterly sincere in her positivity.

She put down her pile of clothing, and reached up to her ears.  I thought she was going to let me look at them, and I hesitated.  I was distracting her from work and I should graciously excuse myself.

“Here,” she said, pulling not one, but both earrings from her ears.  “You can have them.”

I was caught completely off guard.  And no amount of saying no could persuade her to keep her earrings.  She put them firmly into my hand.  “Now,” she said, that smile wide and bright, “every time you wear these earrings, you think of me, okay?”

“I … Of course! I won’t just think of you! I’m going to tell people all about you!  That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me …” I trailed off, because I could literally feel my eyes getting misty.  (I’m a sap, okay?).  I beamed at her, and she chuckled to herself.

“You’re welcome!  Enjoy them, okay?”  And I nodded, because I couldn’t think of a single adequate thing to say.

And this morning, when I picked out my outfit to go with my new earrings, I smiled and thought that the world works in mysterious ways.