They were waiting for me in the mailbox yesterday evening.
Ah, Mark and Debbie...you haven't aged a bit since I last saw you forty-one years ago!
I don't remember when the book first appeared in our home, but I know I had discovered it by the time I was in 4th grade and spent a week at home with chicken pox, reading and sipping on bottles of cold Coca-Cola.
(Chicken pox that first time was actually quite pleasant. Twenty years later I had it again - not pleasant at all!)
By the time I was in 7th grade and Cousins was snatched from my school locker, I had read the book at least a dozen times. I mourned its loss, but years passed before I began searching for it... scanning the titles of books in every antique store I entered, recruiting friends and even my kids to keep an eye out for it.
Often, in the middle of some writing project, I would think of it and do a quick Google search, only a fraction of a glimmer of hope driving me on.
It didn't help that I couldn't remember the author, and that there were quite a few famous books with the same title.
But then...a couple of weeks ago I was ordering a book about real estate a friend had recommended, on an online site she had also recommended because of the cheap prices.
Out of habit, and still hanging on to that tattered bit of hope, I typed in Cousins. The usuals popped up, but I was able to narrow the search to 'old children's books' and then...there it was. I couldn't believe it!
However, the books offered weren't cheap. Over the years Cousins had become a collector's item, it seemed. Who knew? I thought I was the only one who remembered it.
My kids told me I should just splurge and get it, but I remembered we were broke and resigned myself to having to wait a little longer to actually hold it in my hands.
Besides, I was happy just knowing the author's name and that several copies were still out there.
But my sweet, book-loving, employed son told me he would pay for it. An early Christmas present.
It was in my shopping cart before he finished talking, and within minutes, it was mine.
Of course, I had to wait for it to be shipped, but what's a couple of weeks after forty-one years?
Their search for Felicity begins (again), but hallelujah! my search for them has ended.
Sweet!
And here are a few other sweet!s from the past week...
Monday: your Hollow dotted with yellow flowers; spending the day at your church...and getting paid for it
Tuesday: rising while it's still dark to lay on your car with your daughter, staring up at the sky, watching meteors and fire balls shoot across the sky; thinking back to your wedding day, 31 years ago; visiting a real estate agency and deciding it's a good fit
Wednesday: roasted veggies a la Jessie; facing your new adventure, head-on; a movie with your daughter
Thursday: your puppy running for joy; friendly people who put you at ease when taking your fingerprints; phone calls from your mom; finally making it to the grocery store
Friday: pink prickly pear fruit; a day at home for to-do lists; laughing over an episode of Dark Shadows with your son
Saturday: a free lunch; learning more about real estate; seeing your son and daughter-in-law's new home; surprises in your mail box; studying real estate on the back porch until the sun drops too low to read
Sunday: empty toll roads when you're running late; another free lunch; doing better on your practice real estate exam than you thought you were; hearing that your dad didn't hurt himself in his latest fall; unpacking forgotten books from boxes; identifying weird scat with your son via an online site (coyote, not mountain lion, we think - I'll spare you the photo)
What were some of your sweet! surprises this week? Share!
"The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate."
~ Oprah Winfrey
