Let Us Begin Before the Beginning

 Victoria and Albert Museum
Peasant Woman Nursing a Baby
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
(this could be my personal "Statue of Liberty)

Another lovely story from my "thrift store adventures" begins before it's actual beginning. I had worked very hard for weeks to get the store ready for the "Grand Opening". The night before our opening, a young woman with a baby appeared at my door. She looked very fatigued, and I let her in, even though I wasn't really open yet.

People have always asked me how I knew these people were truly in need, and not just trying to get over on me. The answer to that is very simple, you just "know". Those who are truly in need are usual hesitant to ask for help, or at least, very humble about it. I often had to coax the need out of them, so to speak. Yes, there were those who tried to scam me, but I quickly learned how to deal with that. They are very recognizable.

I had a little furniture in the store already, and sat this young woman down on a nearby love seat. After some convincing, she told me her story. She was a new mother whose husband had left. Her family was helping as much as they could, but the baby had very little in the way of clothes. She meekly asked me if there were anyway she could have an outfit or two from the rack I had just filled with lovely baby girls clothes, and swore she would pay me as soon as she was able.

I immediately went to the rack I had just finished filling before she appeared, and bagged up ever piece of baby girl clothing I had. I, of course told her not to worry about the cost, I was only selling them for a dollar apiece to begin with, and they had been donated by caring individuals who I was sure would want her to have them. She hugged me and thanked me as she left, and promised to tell everyone she knew about my store. I could feel her tremble a bit, as she did so.

About an hour later, as I was searching madly for more baby clothes to restock my now empty racks, a woman pulled up in a station wagon. She opened the back, and much to my surprise, she pulled out an armload of clothes. They were all beautiful baby girl clothes, even nicer than those I had just given away, still on their hangers, and ready to go right on my racks! The woman told me her grand daughter had just outgrown them, and asked if I would I like to have them for my store.

I told the woman what had just happened, and that I had desperately been searching for exactly what she brought me when she arrived. We both laughed at the seeming coincidence of it all. I thanked her profusely, which got me another hug. We were both trembling with the excitement of the miracle that had just occurred. I am actually trembling a bit as I type this right now. It is a very power memory.

So, do I worry at the prospect of opening another store in the near future, with little start up money, and no knowledge of where it might lead? No, I do not. For starters, this time I have good partners, who I trust with my own life. I also feel I  have the power of the universe on my side, in the form of what I have come to know and respect as the universal laws of synchronicity.

You will hear me speak a lot of synchronicity. It is a powerful force in my life. It always guides me to exactly were I need to be at exactly the right time, and I am ever grateful for that. .