The second Christmas season at the shop has confirmed that JOY is indeed a magical and hilarious place. The past couple of weeks – and especially the past couple of days – have been a wonderful whirlwind of life and love and laughs. One of the funniest moments was yesterday when there was basically a coffee klatch of women in the store picking up some last few things. There had to be four of them in there catching up, wishing merry merry, asking each other where they’ve been and where they were going next. As they chatted vibrantly about this and that, the subject of pajamas came up. Specifically, the pair of pajamas one of the women had purchased for her mother last year at the shop. She blurted, “She lives in them… She never takes them off!” The laughing got louder because we all know her mother – and she’s one of the most put together women in town. As if on cue, the shop door opened and in walked the mother. She wanted to get some pajamas for the daughter. It was perfectly hilarious. You can’t make this stuff up.
First thing Monday morning, two guys walked in right as we opened. Turns out they were from Massachusetts and had taken a ride up to Bennington to get some cheese, and then decided to venture on a little further up to Manchester. The JOY sign on the road lured them in. One of them was doing a “bath” themed Christmas for his wife. He said he was in pretty good shape, but picked up a robe and some bath bombs anyway. He paid me with the absolute crispest $100 bill I have ever seen. When I thanked him for coming in and then additionally for paying in cash, he told me his career had been with Crane paper – the company that supplies the government with the actual paper that our money is printed on. “Cash has been good to me,” he said. We had a great conversation about cash, and also about just driving up the road to see what’s up there.
Every facet of our community has been in the shop this week: people who work at restaurants and inns, at hair salons and jewelry stores; local business owners and staff; insurance agents, roofers, pizza chefs, lawyers, farmers; mothers, daughters, husbands, wives, sons, grandmothers, aunts…you name someone or something that makes this town tick and they’ve been in. I love our community.
One of the absolute most incredible things at the shop these past few days has been the number of women buying bras. Just yesterday, the most adorable woman came in for a nursing bra. She’s due soon. The first two she tried on fit her nicely, but they weren’t quite right. The third one was. Her smile was like a lightning bolt in the overwhelming Christmas fray. A first time mother-to-be… So special… So wonderful… So incredibly magical.
Another woman brought in her young daughter yesterday for her first “fitting.” The opportunity to be part of this right of passage will never cease to be the most rewarding part of owning this bra shop. I fully understand my role and responsibility in these events “going well.” This one did. The girl wore her new pink bra out. It was as if she left with wings… You go on and fly, young lady!
So many stories…so many lives. Every one of them unique and special: the woman from Manhattan who said it was “fabulous” to be able to drive to buy a bra instead of taking a cab or two subways; the man who really wanted to get his wife a cheetah robe who had been sent to the shop by two different stores who told him, “if anyone has one in town, she does…”; the husband holding out cash to buy a gift certificate who looked agitated and said out loud in front of everyone else in the store that he “hated Christmas shopping.” I told him in front of everyone else to “give me the money and go away for 10 minutes.” He did. When he came back, tried to get to him with the little pink bag before he could get too far back into the shop. I got a nod out of him, and maybe a “thank you” too. I swear he cracked a smile.
JOY has been good this year and the rewards to it’s soul have over-flowed anything that Santa could possibly fit in his bag. That said, I guess Joy was pretty good too, because Santa did deliver a few things to my house. Last night I opened my first gift that was handpicked by my personal Santa Claus to be the one gift I got to open on Christmas Eve. It was a large vial of salt.
“It’s the spice of life,” he told me.
This morning, I opened a salt grinder, a metal bowl similar to the one I have that I say I love all the time, too much chocolate, and two magnetic JOY signs for my car – one for each side.
Magical and hilarious – The shop. My life. All of it…
See you around town. (you’ll know it’s me – ha ha)
Merry Christmas. Sprinkle generously.
Much love ,
– Joy
salt \ sȯlt \ n 1 a : a crystalline compound NaCl that consists of sodium chloride, is abundant in nature, and is used especially to season or preserve food or in industry —called also common salt b : a substance (as Glauber’s salt) resembling common salt c plural (1) : a mineral or saline mixture (as Epsom salts) used as an aperient or cathartic (2) : smelling salts d : any of various compounds that result from replacement of part or all of the acid hydrogen of an acid by a metal or a group acting like a metal : an ionic crystalline compound 2 a: a container for salt at table —often used in the phrases above the salt and below the salt alluding to the former custom of seating persons of higher rank above and those of lower rank below a saltcellar placed in the middle of a long table 3 a: an ingredient that gives savor, piquancy, or zest : flavor <a people…full of life, vigor, and the salt of personality — Clifton Fadiman> b : sharpness of wit : pungency c : common sense d : reserve, skepticism —usually used in the phrases with a grain of salt and with a pinch of salt e : a dependable steadfast person or group of people —usually used in the phrase salt of the earth 4 a: sailor <a tale worthy of an old salt> 5 a: keep 3 —usually used in the phrase worth one’s salt
-“Salt.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 25 Dec. 2014.
