minor celebrity

On Saturday, Jim and I set out on a trip to visit my family for my younger niece’s birthday. We’d only been on the highway a few minutes when we noticed a vibration and sound coming from the right front tire.  We pulled over and checked and while nothing looked wrong, it was worrying enough that we headed home and switched to Jim’s car for the trip.

When we got back I made an online appointment to get my car checked out at National Tire and Battery – just down the street from the house.

I took the car in on Monday afternoon and while I was waiting to get checked in I noticed some origami on the front desk – an open lattice cube that I’d made the last I was there.  I didn’t say anything about it then, but I had paper and did some more folding while I waited in the waiting room in the back.

By the time they finally came to give me an update, I had filled a table with small paper creations.  I got the bad news on the amount and the timing – they couldn’t get parts and it wouldn’t be ready until tomorrow – and then headed back to the lobby with a small solid cube in hand. 

I picked up the open cube in my hand and popped the smaller cube into it – explaining to the guy at the counter that I had made that the last time I was in. 

He got very excited and told me that folks notice this all the time new employees ask about it – but they didn’t know who made it.    I told him I’d left a bunch of new things behind in the waiting room – then left to walk home.

The next day I got the call that my car was done and Jim was able to drop me off.   I walked in and saw that most of what I had made the day before had been added to the front desk.  When a different employee from the day before came up I said I was picking up my Civic.  She grabbed a chart off the wall and asked, “Todd?”

“Anthony,” I replied and she lit up.  

“You’re the guy that made all these!” she exclaimed and we chatted about origami while she rang me up.

No discount, alas, but still a nice encounter.  Something a little out of the ordinary really caught their attention and I was glad to share.

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Today, I drove my newly repaired car (hydraulic lines, calipers, and brake pads) into work and went to McDonald’s for lunch.  I went through the drive through and the same woman from before was working at the window.  She recognized me again as she handed me my order and told me that she had saved some of the things I had made from before.  

I told her that I thought it was really cool that she had recognized me last week from the origami and that I made her something.

I handed her an octahedron that I had made from blue scrapbook paper and she took it reverently in both hands.  

“I will treasure this for always,” she said and I smiled behind my mask and told her I was glad she liked it.  I wished her a good day and then I was on my way.

Such a simple hobby and the unexpected delight is a wonderful reward. 

And not a bad thing to be known for.