I had waited for this day for weeks. The hard bench underneath me fought to steal my concentration, but I had come to hear my favorite author speak and I wasn’t going to let anything rob me of this treasured pleasure.

She walked across the stage to the podium in tempered self-assurance and grace. A model portrait of modest humility, and a natural aura woven within her personality.

Her soft words floated through the air like eloquent pastel strokes, not big and thunderous, but dainty and gentle. Each syllable weighed and measured. Nothing extra or unbalanced. You knew her thoughts and memories were precise and exact before she brought them out and shared them.

Every stitch of her attire followed the same methodical rule. Nothing loud, colors blending in like shades with simple details. I could image her house maintained the same simple order. All in its place with no clutter or unnecessary accessories.

Mesmerized, I claimed each phrase and truth she shared and weighed them as important as the chosen words one places on a headstone. With eyes closed, I breathed in her quotes. “A mind can be broadened by a simple truth more effectively than an intellectual equation. Hold on to what you know to be true. Live by that truth. Peace is only as deep as the pocket you stitch it into. Hold your honor high, it’s a coveted reward that can’t be stolen, but can be lost if your morals are dislodged.”

The tranquil calm of the room skipped a beat.

My eyes fluttered open. Just beyond my front row seat, I noted a single unraveled black thread pinched between the speaker’s finger and thumb. From wrist to armpit, her left sleeve dangled and flapped free; a perfect tail for a kite. Worry, no, distressful creases had shroud her pleasant features in dread, fear, and shame, more distraught than one should look in the face of a slight contretemps.

The delicate white flesh of her arm, now naked and exposed, like a stripper drawing attention to themself, further illuminated her stricken features and enhanced her embarrassing situation.

In new-found tailored fashion the speaker released her hold on the attention grabbing thread, straightened her crumpled form, and eased her words back into their natural even flow and pace. “Continue to move forward, even in moments of great distress, and cultivate the bloom of humor hidden deep inside one’s heart.”