I took a lunch break today and went to my local hardwood dealer – one of the best hours I’ve spent this week. I got to look at wood, getting ideas and forgetting where I’d just come from. The guy who works the showroom is a really friendly guy named Mark. Mark calls everybody ‘Bub’ or ‘Chief’, greets everyone as they come in the door, and checks on everyone at least once to see if they need help.
I wander back and look at a big piece of quartersawn white oak, one of two remaining in the showroom that are still rough from the sawmill. They’d had these rough-sawn boards in the show room for several weeks now. So Mark comes back to the oak, and we talk about the wood, and I tell him how beautiful the last board turned out.
Finally I bring this board to the counter, and he gets me almost rung up, but his brain must be working on some thought or another because he mistypes something on their old computer system. Well, as he’s starting over, he suddenly asks me if I’d take the other board too for half price. He says he has inventory coming up soon, and he won’t get more of the quartersawn in the store once this is gone. I think he knew that I’d appreciate and enjoy it, too.
Talk about synchronicity! This was the universe telling me to buy this wood and make something beautiful with it. I whispered my gratitude to a generous universe, and accepted Mark’s offer.
life, revisited 