First Thoughts

The man at the customer service desk waited patiently while I considered the font type and engraving style.  I had chosen a simple answer to the fill in the blank question - "I run to be".  An answer that would capture how I felt each time I would head out of my third floor apartment to the busy street below and take off towards some distant location.  It did not matter if I was reluctant that day, sore from the previous days workouts or perhaps sluggish from drinking too much wine the night before.   My tendons stretched, my stride found dodging the aches and crowds on the sidewalks.  The noise in my head fading to the sound of my breathing.
"zen" I said looking up at him, nervously shifting in my seat.  "Are you Buddhist?" he asked.  I hesitated in responding thinking I should have a smart answer.  "Well it is something I am exploring.  It is also sort of a nickname" I stopped short. I really could not explain that it was more of a feeling.
He nodded and asked if I wanted the hand engraved or machine explaining the machine one, while cheaper would eventually fade.  I chose the hand engraving and script font.  I also wanted lower case letters even though I wasn't sure it would work with the curling letters.  I was fretting and feeling I was taking too long.  "What do you think?" I asked.

"Do you know wabi-sabi"  he said smiling at me.  "the Japanese zen philosophy of beauty in imperfection?"

And in that moment, I knew.  No matter what, it would be beautiful.