I've always reminded myself to breathe through my tough moments in life, so I was thrilled to see that one of the keys had this word on it. Within a few days of buying it, my first serious relationship ended. I found the key to be the perfect reminder to breathe through it all.
Even through tough times, of course life doesn't stop moving, and I was due to go into work at the mall. There is one young man about my age that I always see, we smile, but that's it. I remember the only words he ever said to me. It was on a random day I was upset about something, but I pretended to be happy. He passed by and said, "you have a beautiful smile, you're always smiling," and it changed my mood around. A few days ago, shortly after I started wearing my key, he decided to approach me. His girlfriend had just broken up with him, and he needed someone to talk to. He went on to tell me his life story, and confided in me that when he found out he was going to be put into foster care, he ran away and became homeless. His story surprised me, because here was someone I saw so often, and I had no idea of his background story. It reminded me of the saying, "Be kind; everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." His attention at one point was drawn to my necklace, and he asked me if I was wearing the key to the store around my neck. I laughed and explained the meaning of it to him, which hit home from his personal experiences. We both were amazed by the parallel of what my key supported, his background story, and the strange but beautiful fact that he felt like he could share his story with me. I gave him the key which he responded to as if it was extremely valuable. It was more than passing on the word. For us, we both will now recall how you really never know someone's story, and how strange fate can be to two strangers.
-Christine
