Yesterday I visited my favorite “downtown Ojai” interiors store. I put downtown in quotes because Ojai is a very small town. Barely 8,000 residents, but it has lots going for it, like great shopping (albeit expensive), yummy restaurants, lots of fun events like the Memorial Weekend Arts Fair, a juniors tennis tournament, music festivals, two farmer’s markets+++. It’s a short drive from the big city of Los Angeles and a favorite weekend destination. Every once in a while you stumble on a celebrity like Ted Danson & Mary Steenburgen, Jason Siegel, Reese Witherspoon, Fred Durst, etc…

Anyhoo, downtown Ojai is a short 2 miles from our house and although “going into town” on the weekends can be daunting, the well dressed crowds do gather, I love to go in on the week days. So, I stopped into my favorite shop to pick up an orange bowl I’d been eyeing and chat up the store owner, who I love! She’s one of the sweetest human beings I have ever met. And she’s got a great eye for interiors. Her shop is beautiful. We talked a bit. She asked how the house is coming along. I’m shocked she always remembers me. As I was checking out, I told her that her store is one of my all time favorite happy places. No matter my mood, she and her store always cheer me up.

She asked to walk out with me, and on our way back out to the Shopping Arcade, she told me I was not the first person this week to tell her that her store is their happy place.

She told me that a couple days before, an older lady, maybe 70’s, walked into the store and sat gently down on a sofa. It was early and the store was empty other than this well dressed woman. After a few minutes, the shop owner went to ask if the woman needed any help finding anything and the woman said, “no, but I have to be honest with you. I’m not here to purchase anything today. I have been in your store many times and gotten great joy from purchasing some of the lovely items you have so skillfully procured, but that was before.” She told her that last week her husband had been busy with something and left his phone in the kitchen. It kept beeping so she picked it up to see if it was something important. Now most of you guys know where this is going I’m sure. There were text messages from another woman. The husband had been cheating, was trying to break it off, but the other woman was persistent. The wife asked her husband of 50+ years to leave the house. She immediately called a lawyer and started divorce proceedings. She knew she could never touch this man again after he had been with another woman. She didn’t look back. But now she was in need of something to lift her spirits, so she drove herself into town and plopped herself on this luxurious sofa, surrounded by gorgeous blankets, ceramics, books, pillows and much more in this little shop and claimed it as her happy place. She’s now alone, and on a budget that won’t allow her to continue shopping in this store, however, just being there brings her joy. And joy is important in life.

The shop owner had tears in her eyes. I told her I unfortunately knew how that other woman felt and I thanked the shop owner for being there, for being her, and that life wasn’t necessarily always what it seems. She hugged me and told me she loved me. 😳