My husband, David, known better as “Dave,” got home today after a long business trip to a bunch of foreign countries he’d never been to before.
One night, leaving a restaurant in Cape Town, South Africa, a picture being displayed by a street vendor on a busy street caught his eye. Since he hates shopping, this picture must have been very special. His eyes would have certainly passed right over it, except for one salient detail. That this detail didn’t involve a Victoria’s Secret model or American football makes it even more amazing.
Spotting our names together on this picture felt like a weird dream, he said. I refused to believe him, because this is the kind of prank he pulls on me all of the time. It’s part of our relationship’s shtick: him, the straight-faced wiseacre; me, the spacey blonde.
Over the years the spaciness and blondness have dissipated. I’ve wizened. So I did just as any wife of more than two decades would: I made this poor jetlagged man fight for my gullibility.
When he claimed the piece was the only example offered by the vendor, not an example, I merely rolled my eyes. Ten full minutes of strenuous convincing later, I finally accepted he was telling the truth.
Why the change? Because I couldn’t help but notice that this picture is butt ugl- … um, I mean… not exactly my taste. I figured he knew that I’d kill him if he went to such extremes as to personalize, pay for, and haul something so… so…. butt ugl… um… not exactly my taste, all the way home from South Africa to South Carolina for the sake of fleecing me.
Is that not weird and kind of cool? Both that the picture was there and that he spotted it? What do you think about coincidences?
Today, I’m believing in them.
(If you’re wondering what is written under each of our names, I’ll tell you soon. I don’t know what I think of it yet.)
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{ 22 comments }
Did you tell him it was butt ugly, or did you just smile and say, “I love it, honey. Thanks.”?
I would probably be skeptical, too, if for no other reason than Margo doesn’t seem like that common of a name. It would be like someone telling me they found a coffee mug with Staci spelled Staci and not Stacey or Stacie. I just wouldn’t believe them.
I would have bought it anyway, just because of the “coincidence.” Although they claim there’s no suck thing, that it is all purposeful.
This is funny. I find coincidences to be a little taste of the future….reality in a sense. I don’t think anything happens for NO reason at all …you must believe in the story you have been given. IT is fate. Accept it. Frame it. Hang it… where hardly anyone can see it….
Suz
I love coincidences like that! (…but not necessarily that picture.)
I hear the music from The Twilight Zone….
I would by it too if my girl’s name and mine are written on it, even if the picture is bu–ok not exactly my taste.
Coincidences are either creepy or cute
It’s – not exactly my taste either – but it IS a very cool coincidence!
Reading this the day after I wrote it, makes me think I must have been suffering from nanowrimo lag yesterday that was just as bad as Dave’s jet lag. Now I’m thinking, “what DO it mean?” and that it must have some huge meaning. I’m hanging it up NOW.
I don’t believe in coincidences, but see them as a nudge toward a truth. Hang it in the bathroom; some day it might speak to you.
Amazing! And I totally believe in fate and all that kind of crap.
I’m totally believing it.
But . . . why is David’s mountain higher?
You need to train your poor husband to never pick up stuff at the airport. Tell him that the only thing you want are towels. Or jewelry. That way, he’ll tell you that there were no towels being sold at the airport.
I’m interested to know what it says.
I would have had to buy it too, in spite of the design.
Those coincidences are always spooky.
Much like Jane said, I don’t believe in coincidences either. I believe all happens for a reason and I think she’s very wise to suggest you to have a good listen for it to speak to you. If on the other hand, he made the whole thing up, bonk him over the head with it.
Clearly, he had to haul it home.
Even though he probably had it made at the silk-screening shop at the mall down the road. In ten years, he’ll let you in on the prank.
But in the meantime, what kind of words beneath your names did he pay the nice 17-year-old with piercings there at “Screenings Is Us” to put on the paper?
LOL, that *is* quite butt ugl-er, not exactly my taste either.
That is super cool! Some people say there is no such thing as coincidence. Not sure how I feel about that.
And I don’t know if it can be attributed to selective perception, but it seems that signs like this (like with the movie of the same name) are all around us. Sometimes it freaks me out and makes me wonder if we really ARE in The Matrix.
I think he made it up. But that was sweet to do. Or else the street-seller is actually a sneaky entrepreneur who googled Dave when he entered the restaurant and quickly put the picture together for a guaranteed sale.
Yeah, no. Couldn’t he have just taken a photo of it or just told you about it?
I also have a husband who travels and is an expert bullshitter. Call me cynical, but I’m not buying a word of it.
Of course, I don’t have a sentimental bone in my body.
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