If you think about it, your path crosses with so many people in the course of a lifetime, fleeting interactions that leave no trace of the individuals who held a door for you, waited on you at a restaurant, sat next to you on a plane.
But sometimes what should be a blip on your radar can turn into something unexpected. Last year, while spending a week in Port Orchard, Washington, my husband and I visited Josephine’s Mercantile. It is a store with 20 vendors selling antiques, vintage and handmade items, plus a cafe. The building once housed a roller rink, you can see signs of it on the floor.
Mister Rain and I walked from one shop to the next, until we found Cuttysark Nautical Antiques. Their inventory includes antique navigational instruments and ships’ lanterns, clocks, wheels, telegraphs, telescopes and ship models. We were immediately intrigued by one of the larger lights but we really had no place to put it in our home. Turning our attention to smaller versions, we both liked a blue lantern; my husband loves blue and it is the only color I can see. We debated purchasing it, deciding not to, although I can’t give a definitive reason why. We took some pictures of the rows of lights along with some of the tags on the items so we had the store’s information.
Back home in Pennsylvania, I thought more about the lantern, wanting to get it for Mister Rain for Christmas, fast approaching. I went to our photos from the trip, looking for the shop’s website. Unfortunately, all were blurry. I Googled “Nautical Lights Port Orchard, Washington” and Cuttysark came up. Scanning their offerings, I found our light. It was more money than I had intended to spend, so I held off, giving myself time to further consider the gift. A few days later, I was ready to place the order, but when I went to do so, I discovered the lantern was sold. Ugh! I emailed the store, asking if they had anything available similar to it. The owner, Roger, replied to my message, making my day by telling me the lantern was indeed still for sale, there had been an error made and the wrong product was marked as zero inventory. The only problem was that since the website showed none in stock, I couldn’t complete the purchase, and Roger’s daughter, who handles that side of the business for him, had just had a car accident and was unable to make the change. After some back and forth, we figured out a work around and the light arrived quickly. I hid it away until December 25th when my husband opened the box. It was extremely well packed and protected. I took pictures as Mister Rain unveiled each layer of bubble wrap, then the lantern. He ws so surprised. I sent the photos to Roger, he was very glad to hear of my husband’s happiness with his present. Roger also reminded me of his multiple, previous mentions of getting together the next time we were in town.
And so it was nine months later that I reached out to let Roger know we were coming to Port Orchard again. We made a date to meet at the cafe at Josephine’s for coffee. Entering the store, we made our way to the Cuttysark booth. Mister Rain was ahead of me, and I heard him introduce himself to Roger. I stepped forward, shaking his hand. “Are you an Elin Hilderbrand fan?,” my husband asked. I had no idea why he would say this, but I turned my head to where they were both looking. I could make out the fact that there were some books on the top shelf amongst the lights on display. I couldn’t see what they were, but I recognized the distinctive blue that, in my life, means one thing: an Elin Hilderbrand Nantucket novel. As I’ve written about several times (“First Chapter“), I am a huge fan of Elin’s and her stories, so much so that Mister Rain and I traveled there a few years ago. It was a bizarre moment trying to quickly process and connect Roger -Port Orchard – Nautical Antiques – Me – Pennsylvania – Elin Reader – Elin Books – Nantucket – Here On The Other Side Of The Country.
Huh?
“I love her books,” Roger replied. “I’ve gone to Nantucket to pick up antiques.”
We spent 2 hours with Roger. He has led a very interesting life, so much so that I suggested he write a book. It was wonderful to hear about his career and travels, how he ended up in Port Orchard, having been born in a small town in Illinois, the idea that sparked into the birth of Cuttysark. He was tickled that we named his lantern at home “Roger.”
We left Josephine’s feeling as though we have a new friend because we do. A repurposed 1950s piling light brought us together.
Sometimes all you need to do is look a little deeper, push past the cursory hello, the seemingly inconsequential transactions. Which is easy to do when you have a lantern to light the way.
#sisterrain #alittlesightalotofheart #legallyblindtraveler #travel #portorchard #josephinesmercantile #cuttysarknauticalantiques #anoldpilinglightnavigatesmetoanewfriend
