High Five

    I arrived from work today, parked my car, took out my groceries, and wrestled to find my keys to open the front door to the apartment building. As I was talking aloud to myself, and yes using my tush to actually push myself in, I heard, "Hey!" a shy voice sounding from the mailbox area, "It's a hot day, no?". Oops! I was caught in the act talking to myself by one of my neighbors.
   "Oh hi! Yeah that's summer in NYC. Hot and sticky."
   "You know..." Her voice continues, "I just mailed you an invitation, did you get it?"
    "An invitation?" For a moment I froze in thought. My lettuce escaped from one of my bags, and here come the tomatoes rolling down the lobby floor. What a mess.
    "No, no I didn't. Not yet." I picked up the bruised vegetables, carefully put them back in my grocery bag, and I entered the mailbox area.  "What invitation did you send me?"
     The voice suddenly had a head too. A pretty freckled face with two vivid hazel eyes.
    "To my wedding, of course!"
    "To your wedding? Congratulations! When is the happy event?" I asked. Well, you have no idea how light I suddenly felt. A wedding? No kidding. That's good news!
  
     I met this girl a few times before in the elevator, she moved into the building last year, and we exchanged the usual morning and evening greetings. In December the first snow arrived, and I helped her to shovel her car out of the largest heap of snow you can imagine. Later that day she knocked at my door, and brought a beautiful assortment of herbal teas, with a cute 'thank you' note. My daughter was back from college for the weekend, and we invited her to join us for dinner. That's how we got to know her better.
    She moved here from Cleveland, OH and works as a dental assistant in the city. As a young girl, she was eager to meet new people and make new friends. I invited her to also join us the following day to go shopping at the best place in Forest Hills: Austin Street. We shopped at Eddie Bauer, Banana Republic, and the girls had their hair cut at one of the hair salons. In other words we had a great day!
    Just before Valentine's Day she knocked at the door again, and asked for my advice. She had a new date and wanted to look special and beautiful.
   "As a present for the occasion, a good luck piece, here is a necklace that I made. Hope it will bring you joy, and don't forget, invite me to your wedding." I finished with a joke. We both laughed, and as I gave it to her she gazed in awe and appeared touched by the gesture.

   Well, as you can see she will get married and it so happens that it will be with the very date she had that Valentine's Day. I made just one other, and named it Valentine. I told my daughter the news, and she just smiled and said, "High five mom!"



http://www.etsy.com/listing/66571534/valentine-black-lace-heart-necklace