Sequins and Signs

A few days ago I treated myself to three pieces of sequined elastic. Colorful sequins are fun, although I probably wouldn’t devote a blog post to that alone. But the conversation I had at the checkout immediately struck me as the launch of an amusing post. Read on.

The woman cutting the sequins asked what I was making. (This happens a lot in fabric stores. People who work there are people who sew, and people who sew always want to know what other people are sewing.) I said truthfully, “I don’t know. Sometimes I just buy supplies that appeal to me and I save them for the moment when an idea strikes. Or I feel inspired by the material and create something around it.”


The cashier loved my explanation and shared a story about her friend. Sometimes the cashier’s friend calls her and says something like, “I’m at a store, eating ice cream.” The cashier responds, “Really? It’s raining. It’s freezing!” The friend says, “God told me to come here.” Once, the friend called to say she was driving to San Francisco (a mere 500 miles away), “because God told me to go there.” The cashier isn’t sure what to make of this. Her friend truly believes that God tells her to do spontaneous things like this. (The friend sounds like a real hoot to me—a very colorful personality and fun to be around, I’d say.) If the friend believes she is getting orders from God, okay. But I wonder if people think they are receiving a message from above simply because they want to get ice cream in the rain or drive 500 miles. If so, I see nothing wrong with embracing the unexpected and needing no further explanation than this: I just felt like it!

Although I believe in God I haven't received messages from Him that include destinations and driving directions. I'm also not one who believes in signs the way some people do. I’ve never had a moment when I saw a canary and said, "Eureka! This means I'm supposed to wear yellow shoes today and call a friend I haven't spoken to in years." No, I'm not much for signs. Spontaneity, yes. Sequins, yes. Signs, hmmm...

My decision to stop for sequins was based on the fact that I had ten minutes between my final errand and picking up the kiddos at school. This was just enough time to pop into the fabric store near school and get something for my next fabric creation.


But then again, had I not stopped for sequins I would not have heard the story about the friend who does unexpected things. And we did get an amusing blog post out of my spontaneous stop for sequins. So was it a sign that I was supposed to stop at the fabric store? No, I don't think so. But it's a happy coincidence and that's enough for me.