Crossing the line

Idon’t mind telling you I have crossed a line.

Once upon a time very long ago a man gave me diamonds. There are two reasons why a man gives diamonds. One, because he loves you very much and wants to win you, and two, because he loves you very much but has wronged you and would like to make up. His was the second reason. I have been trying to sell this set for years and have always been disappointed. Now suddenly it is sold, giving me enough money to make me feel a little rich.

What did I tell you? I crossed a line.

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Lydia, my classmate from grade school to high school and one of my dearest friends, invited her old classmates to lunch at her lovely new house. She texted later, inviting us to have tea with her somewhere where Indian jewelry was sold. I said I would come. What was there to lose? When I went I had no money yet, so what was there to spend? Turns out I was the only adventurous person in the group. Everyone else had somewhere else to go.

Let me tell you about Indian jewelry these days. They are gorgeous. No more bells. They are modern stones cut in all sorts of shapes and put together interestingly.

“Semi-precious stones?” I asked Nenette Gonzalez, whose family name seems related to mine but we can’t trace how.

“No,” she said, “there are no more semi-precious stones. All stones are considered precious now,” and thus she put citrine in the same class as emerald and even diamond.

The shop is big and sells Indian furniture, clothes and jewelry. You enter it through Westgate. It is on your right, marked by tall, teal doors standing in the garden. To your right in front is a coffee shop called Bona Coffee Company and to the left, also in front, is the furniture store called Bohemian Nation. At the back there are two more buildings, one for hair care and the other a spa.

Lydia and I headed for the jewelry shop, which is incorporated into the furniture shop. Lydia is my one classmate who adores jewelry. She compared and tried on while I looked and tried on until I found myself in love with a citrine necklace of uneven stones and a bohemian bracelet in a variety of green stones.

What are you thinking about? I asked myself. You cannot afford to buy those unless you sell your diamonds. Then the cost of those would be small. Well, I also told myself, I was told the diamonds were sold and I would receive payment in two weeks so maybe I can reserve these now. I did. Then we left, Lydia happy to have replaced jewelry she had bought, and I, well, tense that I had been foolish enough to reserve pieces I did not know I could afford. Two days before Valentine’s Day I picked up the payment for my diamonds then went to pick up my beautiful bohemian pieces. Congratulations, lady, they seemed to say. At last you can afford us!

This time Nenette took me on a tour of her grounds. First to her beauty salon where they trained people to fix and treat hair and they taught other people how to do that. Then the spa, which was still under construction. Finally, we went to the coffee shop. The Bona Coffee Company struck me. They were baking organic muffins. They had all sorts of coffee and teas on their menu. It looked like a lovely place to stop by for talk and laughter.

Furthermore, Nenette said, they have all these businesses to support their non-profit work. Their foundation is called Lifeline Foundation and if you want to know more about it check it out at ineedalifeline.org. They have sent help to poor people who need it in the Philippines and even as far as Africa.

“One day I will bring my son and his family over here,” I promised. “I’m sure they will love it.”

Early this year I strayed into a feng shui shop and picked up a Monkey horoscope for the year. I am a Wood Monkey. I flipped through the pages of the Wood Monkey. It said, This Monkey is definitely riding high in the year of the Ox and it is likely that for the 65 year old at least, 2009 is certain to bring a bonanza of some kind or even a ripening of an opportunity. The year could see major payouts on investments already made or perhaps some financial windfall that brings mega recognition all over again.

I bought the book.

Now I have crossed my first line! Terrific, isn’t it?

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