You Never Know

You Never Know: Swoon 53

As a planner, a lister, a figure-it-out-before-it-happens-er, it is puzzling that I also say “you never know” as much as I do. In my head it sounds more like “ya neva no” (my head still has a Queens accent). It’s a powerful tool to move forward or stay safe. Should I try this…well you never know, so why not. Should I be more careful…well you never know, so maybe you should. It kinda works for everything. Maybe it leads us into the right direction, towards what we really want but are too afraid to admit.

Quarantine can be a bit trying, stuff that just doesn’t really matter, does. People notice that others chew louder, leave socks around more, always pick stupid things to watch…life changing horrific things…for those not really experiencing any life changing or horrific things. During this home lock down our family has been exceptionally good at breaking glasses and dishes. I almost did it again this morning, almost wiping out an entire drying rack. I have no clue if we are doing it more than normal, probably not, but since we are always together, we all notice when it happens.

My dad is no longer a living human, he now comes and visit us as a cardinal…and therefor I adore all things cardinal. Well that is a lie. I like all things cardinal that are drawn well. Charley Harper (no, not from Two and a Half Men) is one of my favorite artists. Bright colorful animals, fish, birds, he is joyous. Mid-century modern genius, Golden Book goodness, swoon. Fishs Eddy is one of my favorite stores, quirky and eclectic, one can find the best gifts and home goods, that never feel common. My two favorites got together and there is a whole collection of bird, fish, and animal glassware, dishes, towels…perfection. I purchased cardinal tumbler glasses a few years ago, I sit with my dad and sip bourbon, enjoying our together time. Since our family togetherness sentencing we started using the cardinal glasses each night with dinner, so dad could be with us. Cute right? No… stupid. Glass after glass broke. Nobody’s fault. No big deal. But somehow it was a bit heartbreaking. No worries. we can replace them.

Nope.

Store closed and website down, big giant online demon… (that delivers me stuff daily and I should not judge) none, eBay…none. None. None. None. There were none left. I have not cried much during this global pandemic (lucky not to have lost anyone or have any loved ones too sick). I have contained my tears, well, other than when singing an Easter morning sing-a-long, I totally lost my sh*t during that. Sigh. But this, no more Charley Parker cardinal tumblers to be found. That was so not ok. Not ok.

I was defeated.

Until I wasn’t. Since you never know. I decided I was going to reach out to Fishs Eddy. Maybe if there was someone reading “contact us” emails during the closure, maybe I could just put it in their minds that I needed these glasses. I wrote a typical business like letter to a website contact form… explaining my deep emotional loss and my need for cardinal glasses because they were how I spent time with my dad, my dad the cardinal. Holding no wackiness back, I sent the email and felt better. I had searched high and low, and written to the powers that be. I did what I could, and hey… ya neva no.

Well… you know what is coming because my crazy gets repeated on a daily basis. My dear friend at Fishs Eddy wrote back. The email started like this…

Hi Kat – I am a believer too in reincarnated birds, my mom is a mourning dove.

Birds of a feather… their mom is a mourning dove. Go figure. Life is spectacular. Fishs Eddy Support will look to see if they have glasses when they reopen. They totally got it and they responded so nicely, so quickly, with so much heart. If they have the glasses great, if not I tried. I tried, because, ya neva no…

Swoon.