I left CVS as the downpour renewed, thinking of Audrey Hepburn and wondering if a handsome young man would come around the corner with my bedraggled cat.  Probably not, I told myself.  No Breakfast at Tiffany’s morning for me.

My umbrella safe in my car, I faced a further drenching if I didn’t quickly develop Plan B.  So I skirted up the sidewalk under the awnings and eaves, ducking into any open store, idly looking for a consumer purchase that met my criteria:  Something I could afford, something that would liven my day, and something that I would not later regret purchasing.

I settled on a hat.

I ended up in World’s Window, trying on soft hats with one of my favorite clerks in attendance.  I finally picked one and moved to the counter.  You ladies need to cheer me, I told the two young women at the counter, including the clerk who had patiently given her opinion on four or five hats.  I need an attitude adjustment.  Just then, I turned, and spied a rack of necklaces labeled JOY NECKLACES.

What makes them “Joy” necklaces, I asked.  A twenty-something with amazingly curly blonde hair told me that a studio had donated the materials and store employees had made the necklaces out on the sidewalk this past summer, with random passers-by, and that the proceeds would be donated to Rose Brooks Shelter.

Instant connection.  I purchased four:  One for myself, and one for each of the three ladies in my suite.  My mood lightened.  In fact, it soared through the ceiling, drifting through the rain, penetrating the clouds, and into the clear atmosphere and out further, to the stars, to the moon, the planets and beyond.  All the way to heaven.

So this is my ode to joy.  What a wondrous thing, is joy; and how lucky I was to encounter a way to reclaim it this morning, on a grey day, in Brookside, in Kansas City, among store clerks who don’t know me but cheerfully succumbed to my High Five’s as I exited their establishment.

Joy; displayed by the lovely Jessica. You might not be able to see this, but the drawing etched into the pendant is a rose.