random thoughts – Day 1,356 – (Sunday) – St. Francis

While looking for soup bowls at St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Shop on Saturday, I saw a figurine of St. Francis, patron saint of the environment, animals, and birds on a shelf amidst some other nondescript houseware items. Tagged at $6, the material looked like wood but wasn’t. St. Francis had a bird in his right hand and deer stood beside his left leg. I couldn’t think of where in the house it might go.

There were two sweaters and a blouse I don’t really need, but justified buying because it supports a charity. I went back to look at St. Francis again and talked myself fully out of it because it seemed too large and it didn’t have a dog in it. 

Decorating has
commenced.

Sunday morning, I drank coffee, did laundry, and thought about going to the gym but didn’t because it was raining. Kitchen inspiration struck in the form of rice, chicken from the freezer, grated cheese ends, and mixed frozen vegetables that made a delicious lunch. 

The four-foot tabletop silver foil tree was retrieved from the basement and set up. Two storage tubs were rummaged through for some specific glass ornaments. Multiple trips up and down the basement stairs were catalogued as a workout to further justify not going to the gym. 

After years of no broken ornaments, two broke today. One fell down the basement stairs and smashed, the other broke when my thumb went through it while removing it from the box. There was a time when either of those events would have resulted in a full blown hissy fit, but there is very little energy for that nonsense anymore and living alone there is no audience, so there really is no point. I cleaned up the mess. 

And suddenly, I thought of St. Francis at St. Vincent’s and wanted to go back.

Back in the store, there were different figurines than yesterday on the shelf and St. Francis was gone. To make the trip “worth it” I looked at the clothing. I found a cashmere sweater, a wool jacket, a flannel shirt, and two Princess House crystal coasters. Five gorgeous men’s size large cashmere vee necks hung on the rack with the coats and I wished for a nanosecond there was a person in my life to buy them for. A return trip to housewares confirmed the absence of St. Francis.

Later, more things were hung on the tree – two tassels found in the sewing desk while looking for a needle and thread, three ornaments bought in Korea, five paper ornaments made by a friend, six plastic bangle bracelets from a bag of costume jewelry another friend gave me. And some of Moose’s and Winston’s tags and licenses. 

Maybe someday there will be another St. Francis in my path and maybe I won’t neglect to buy him. Lesson learned. Maybe.