Sparkly Pink Purse
what we don't know we don't know (we don't know)
Essentially, the adorably fluffy dog was being loved on by my daughter and then they bonked heads. I still am foggy on whether my daughter bonked heads with the dog or the owner, but, apparently, that wasn’t a necessary detail. She, the dog’s owner, came back down to the hotel lobby an hour later to “check on that sweet little girl.” She was worried about her.
“Oh, she’s tough,” I responded, “She’s got two big brothers, and they wrestle all the time. What a coincidence, the dog’s owner also had two big brothers. And they were, actually, high school wrestlers.
“I run marathons now,” she told us. “I was training for the Boston…” but she didn’t finish the sentence because my daughter, the head-bonker, ran back over.
“She is precious,” the dog’s owner said. “Is it ok if I give her a sparkly pink purse?” and then, hurriedly, as if it such a gift would be an inconvenience, “it’s brand new. It’s Kate Spade. Is that ok? I just want her to have it.”
“Wow… um, that would be so kind,” I said taking a step backward, “but you really don’t have to do that… she would love it… sparkle is her favorite color… but really, she’s ok.”
“It was a present from my daughter, but, really, I don’t want it,” she laughed. And for the first time I noticed the slight slur in her speech.
She walked stiffly to the lobby elevators and my thoughts swirled. She doesn’t seem ‘all there’ and, she walks so stiffly…I rehearsed scam-prevention tactics in my head. So, check the bag for anything off. Does she even run marathons? Maybe she’s just living in her own world. The Boston Marathon is kind of a big deal.
She reentered the lobby. “There’s also a matching wallet!” she said, “I hope she likes it.” As expected, my daughter flipped. Pink and sparkly? Oh yes. It was a little girl’s dream tote bag… and worth much more than we would have spent.
I casually brought up the marathons again. “Oh, yeah,” she continued, and I noticed a shadow come over her face. “I was working on my qualifying time for Boston when I was in an accident…A semi. I was in a coma for about nine months and I’m still re-learning how to walk and talk again. I’m hopeful, but it’s a long journey.”
I wished her the best.
What we don’t know… Lord, forgive us when we judge others without knowing what struggles they are fighting under the surface.
We are making sure that our daughter takes good care of her Kate Spade, and whenever I see it I pray for the fluffy dog’s owner, who lost everything, but still shared what she had.
