One Shot

I was so afraid.

She told me about the special coat.

She was a little girl when we saw it.

It was the first time she had ever been in Savers. She told me how much she loved Savers as a child. She said “Savers is the best place because EVERY item is one of a kind”.

The coat was one of a kind too.

It was red, big wide collars, with big buttons. It looked just like the coat her hero Mary Tyler Moore wore.

My little girl wanted it so badly. She told me how she had begged and pleaded with me to buy it for her.

My daughter, now a grown woman with a child of her own spoke. I listened as I continued to drive into the night.

We are all so busy. These moments where we are together are so rare.

She told me about how beautiful the coat was. How she had begged and pleaded with me. How she had never wanted anything so badly in her life.

It washed over me. The sadness that comes when you lose something you will never get back.

I would never have a chance to buy my little girl a coat like that again!

Then I felt the terrible FEAR.

Did I miss my chance?

Some things in life give you only one shot.

… Did I refuse?

I couldn’t remember. Money was so tight back then.

Was I so foolish and greedy that I failed to buy it for my little girl. The one special coat? A coat that I could never give her again?

Sometimes you get only one chance.

“God please; please; make it so it didn’t happen. Please let me know I did the right thing!”. I prayed as I listened.

My voice cracked.

… “Did... I... get it... for you??”

She glowed.

“I wore it every day to school forever. I loved it. Yes - thank you!

“I love you Dad."

I drove on.

Finally my hands stopped shaking.