Make Room For Gigi

After a day of wine tasting, it seemed like a great idea.

A lot of things seem like a great idea after a day of wine tasting in the mountains of South Africa.

But this was our great idea. Gigi.

We looked at over 20 hand-carved wooden giraffes before finding the coloration and facial expressions we loved. And as we paid for our new piece of art, we filled out the details for the free shipping we were offered. I asked the shop owners, "we're really gonna get this in 90 days?"

His answer wasn't that convincing in hindsight. But after a day of wine tasting, it seemed good enough.

90 days went by and I got an email saying that the store owners had fallen into some financial troubles and that they currently couldn't afford to ship anything. But if I wanted to pay the shipping cost, they'd be happy to ship it immediately.

I got busy and didn't respond.

I truthfully had already written it off in my mind as a lesson learned: don't go shipping on your honeymoon in South Africa after a day of wine tasting.

Fast forward to last month, a whole year since the wine tasting on our honeymoon. I get a call from the new tenant of the #NotSoSecretGarden saying that "a very large package arrived for you and is in the lobby." When hearing this news, I had no idea what it could be or why it would have been shipped to our now old address.

But when I arrived to pick it up, I saw the FROM section of this enormous package that said "South Africa" and just couldn't help but smile. Somehow, some way, Gigi made her way to us.

When I carried this enormous package upstairs to our new apartment, I was smiling fondly about the day that we'd set this delivery in motion.

When we'd decided to purchase Gigi - wine tasting day or not - we were purchasing Gigi without any frame of reference for what our now new home would look like, or even that we'd be in a new home a year later. We'd set the year-long delivery in motion without understanding which version of us would be taking delivery.

And as I pulled Gigi out of the packaging and placed her in front of the fireplace mantel in our new home, I couldn't help but smile at how much better she fit and how much more she looked at home in our new apartment than she would've in our old place.

It got me thinking: what other sequences have I set in motion that have yet to be fulfilled? What initiative have I started that hasn't been completed? What other deliveries might be made in my life from intentions set and acted upon in my past? What else do I need to be holding space for in my life for that is on its way, but I just haven't received a tracking number to be informed of its progress?

We don't always get what we ordered when we expected it, but we do always get it right on time.