Odd

In preparation for my impending move, Christina (my amazing friend and super-shopper) offered to take me shopping.  Shopping makes me grumpier than any other activity on earth, and I’m always amazed/grateful that she is so willing to take on the challenge with me.  So she escorted me to REI, where she instructed me to try on countless coats and boots to prepare for a climate with which I have no experience. 

While I was trying on a particularly furry pair of shoes, a friendly older lady asked me where I was going in them. 

I took a deep breath. “Anchorage.”

“Anchorage is the most beautiful place I have ever been!”

“Have you been a lot of places?” I don’t know how to justify my response other than to say that I wanted to know her frame of reference, and I often think out loud.  The question was actually irrelevant now that I think of it.  I think San Diego is one of the most beautiful places on earth, and she had obviously already experienced this.

She smiled graciously, “Yes, dear.”

Christina urged me to continue working my way through the pile of shoes and socks she had brought me. (Until that moment, I had assumed sock sizes were fairly generic.  Apparently not.) I obediently participated in the world’s most boring ritual of trying on things that don’t belong to me.

Just as Christina was narrowing down my selection, the woman was leaving the shoe area and turned to give me one last word of wisdom. “Good luck in Anchorage. I promise you will be absolutely odd.”

I sat in stunned silence (which rarely happens, I assure you).

Christina was stacking boxes and chatting with salespeople, nonplussed.

“Christina.  Did you hear that woman?”

“Yes.  She said you’ll be awed.”  I don’t know why, but when Christina repeated the phrase, it became very obvious that the woman had promised that I would be AWED, and I had projected my own fears into her words.

I’m sure I’ll be both.