Living Life With Open Hands

My daughter and her best friend had the day off school and wanted to go to a bead shop so they could make necklaces. Envisioning them being busy stringing tiny beads all afternoon, while mommy could get in a few minutes of much-needed work, I agreed. Bead stores, however, as opposed to craft stores, can get rather pricey. The girls were given plastic bowls and I told them they were on a tight budget of $4 each. Every fancy bead that caught their eye, was of course way out of their little budget. I asked the manager (with my best pleading eyes), to pleeaaaase help the girls to find something, ANYTHING that would fit their budget, but she gave me a withering look and pointed to a tawdry looking bin of chipped wooden beads. My daughter suggested that we ditch the plastic bowls and head over to my favorite fabric store. Accepting that I’d get no work done, as I’d be needing to dust off my sewing machine, I gave-in and agreed. This is when the day completely changed gear.

My favorite fabric store, ISW in West Hollywood (mercifully no website!) has been in operation since the 1940’s and the walls are plastered with framed photos of long-gone movie stars. The lovely old gentleman, who greeted us, seemed delighted that two little girls actually wanted to sew. They explained their tight budget situation and asked if he had a remnant bin, which he did. They each choose a small piece of fabric and went to see if they could also afford a zip (they wanted to make pencil cases). We found a bargain bin of old zips, 10 for a dollar and went to pay. Our elderly friend slowly and carefully packaged up their fabric remnants and when I opened up my wallet, he told me that he wouldn’t dream of letting me pay. With a sparkle in his eye, he said he’d like to give the girls something else. He led us into the back and up a rickety old ladder where he fished around and until he found a huge over-stuffed trash bag. “Have fun” he said, handing it to the girls.

Back in the car, they ripped open the bag to find treasures galore – remnants of every kind of sparkly, silky and embroidered fabric imaginable. They had the most fantastic afternoon and the sewing machine wasn’t needed, as they were way too busy draping, pinning and snipping. We didn’t spend a penny that day and it made me realize how a simple, open-handed gesture can give so much pleasure. A wonderful mentor of mine, Genevive, advised me years ago to always try to live my life with “open hands”, to allow things to come and go. The bead store had an unpleasant tight-fisted energy and I won’t return there, even if I’m dying to buy crystals beads. The fabric store however, is a different deal – I plan to bake a batch of the most delicious cookies I can muster up and take them to that kind gentleman with open hands, and all the elderly women that he employs (one lady was 93). I want to thank them for showing the children that kindness rather than money can create heart-fluttering joy.

Living life with open hands and an open heart underpins a greener way of livng too: When we understand that everything is interconnected, that every action we take has an effect, we step up more readily to the very urgent task of taking care of our planet.