It's moments like these...

I had a moment at the shop yesterday with a little boy, Christian from Bexley (my hometown) that I will treasure forever...for many reasons. He is 7-ish years old, wise and quiet (not bashful or shy, more of a gentleman demeanor) with a beautiful smileflanked by a gorgeous set of dimples. Ever since I met him in December he has reminded me of my older brother. Michael, my brother, passed away in his sleep July 4th, 2002 from an undiagnosed heart condition. We all miss him terribly. On a few occasions the atmosphere around certain situations seem to be steeped with his presence. This moment was one of them.

One of the greatest pleasures I get from my "job" is being there when a customer finds something that makes their heart skip a beat and they just have to have it. Well, this young man's heart did quiet little back flips, I know because I could see it on his face. His mom discovered Urban Farmhouse through the Country Living

Fair and just started coming out recently and dare I say is thoroughly addicted. She was finishing up her shopping and Christian said something about an old camera he saw in the front of the shop, he wondered if it worked. I walked up there (to Lisa Marton's area) with him to let him see it. We were looking at the camera when his mom said something about the Viewmaster. I looked at the next shelf up and there was a vintage black Viewmaster, just like my brother Mike's but black not red plastic. I picked it up and looked through it, it worked and had 15-20 of the round slides too. When I looked down and went to hand it to him the joy in his face was magical! I handed it to him and told him to look in and towards the window...his face was so full of happiness, you wouldn't believe it. It wasn't a "jumping up and down, hyper-excited this is going to pass as soon as I see something else shiny" kind of joy...just pure happiness and joy. He had $20 Grandma gave him and the Viewmaster was $18...more joy.
So I am standing there with eyes full of tears remembering my childhood with my brother. When I raised the Viewmaster to my face I half expected to see the
classic dinosaur images, t-rex and the stegosaurus fighting on the edge of the cliff! I managed to keep my composure, smiling the whole time, kept the tears in my eyes and not streaming down my face. Mom and son stayed right there for a few moments while I walked back up to the cash register. Right there smack in the middle on the expanse of wood of the old store counter was an enamel letter "M". Christian's mom had found it in the store and had laid it there before joining he and I up by the camera. Coincidence I know. But it was cool...like a sweet hello from my big bro Mike, signed even!