It is now nearly midnight Saturday evening. The plans I had made to do some stuff down here in my home office did not materialize. Here's why.
We got up late this morning. Starving, we went to the Timberlea Beverage Room for brunch. They had changed the menu recently and hired a new cook. Not in that order. The result was they now have edible food, which did not make you spend hours on the toilet after eating it.
On the way to the TBR, we had noticed some signs announcing yard sales. We doubled back and checked out a couple of them. And this is where the cool stuff begins.
The first one at the Baptist church in Timberlea, which is tucked away on a street that has a bunch of houses surrounding it. I don't know why to this day they put a church there, but they had their annual garage/yard/sale there.
They had baked goods. I got some. In the next room, we both found a camera bag for a dollar each. We noticed someone's name on the wall to whom all funds being raised would go. We learned that this was a young man who had been out riding his bike back in May when he was hit by a car. His father chanced upon his son a few minutes later. Against all odds, the boy is recovering. He may walk again and be able to resume a relatively normal life. If he had not been wearing a helmet, the story would have been much different, and sadder.
I don't discuss it here very much, but Patricia was in a very serious accident when she was six years old. She was run over in front of her house. She was in a coma for days. She endured many surgeries and had to spend more than a little time at the Sick kids hospital in Toronto to get the kind of care unavailable in Nova Scotia. The accident eventually cost her an eye. I believe it is her left eye. I can never remember which one.
Patricia and I heard about this young man from a woman named Evelyn; she became emotional at the thought of what the boy was going through and how similar her own situation had been and was hugged and comforted by Evelyn, who lives right next door to the church. We then met the young man and his father. We chatted for a few minutes before taking our leave. We were invited to a prayer meeting at Evelyn's house, which apparently happens every Monday and which includes finger food. I am getting peckish just thinking about it.
From there, we went back on to the Bay Road and found another sign for another yard sale. Actually, we had seen that sign on the way back from lunch, but it was impossible to make that turn without causing an accident. Anyway, we drove up that street and toward the yard sale. I happened to look to my left and noticed a fellow mowing his lawn. He looked familiar. I stopped the car and waved.
It turned out to be Charlie, the very nice man who runs the Metro Deli, which I haunt every day during my coffee break, and sometimes I buy breakfast there before I start work in the morning. (They have an early bird special that is to die for, and which includes coffee.) Charlie and I go back quite a few years. I had forgotten, until he reminded me, that he worked at the Pizza Town pizza place that I have frequented for years now (easily the best pizza in the BLT area, even though he doesn't work there any more.)
Charlie is one of the 4.7, a guy who reads my blog most every day. He shares my blog accounts on his Facebook quite often, apparently. And he has got his sister back in Lebanon interested in my blog, so I got him to mail some Blog business cards to her to distribute to her friends. I had no idea that we were neighbours, at least in the sense that we both live in Timberlea. We chatted for a few minutes. He said hello to Patricia, and we let him get back to mowing his lawn. I had my BlackBerry with me; I wish I had thought to pose for a picture with him in front of his house. Silly me.
We drove to the yard sale a block up from Charlie's. They were selling stuff like WD-40 and an amazing cleaner that has a citrus smell. Patricia got some cans of spray paint at a price that's about 25% of what it would cost in a store. I got the WD-40 and that citrus stuff. We left, waved at Charlie as he continued working on his lawn, and returned to the house.
Today was one of those days you look back on with some degree of bemusement and incredulity. We ran into someone who had stepped out to mow his lawn seconds before our arrival, and our trip to that street had been delayed because I couldn't have made that sharp a left hand turn without potentially unpleasant consequences. Cosmic tumblers lined up in such a way that we would see Charlie. I don't want to calculate the odds of that happening. I look forward to being invited over to his place for dinner sometime. After all, I know that he can cook.
The other neat thing was the yard sale at the church. We met a young whose lot in life was made topsy turvy in a way that resonated with Patricia in a special way. We met a lady who hugged Patricia and made her feel welcome. We also met the young man who has challenges facing him. But with the love and support of his family and the community, he can make it.
Days like this don't happen very often. They don't happen, nearly enough.
Anyway, that was my day. How was yours?
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
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