I love fountains.  I find the sounds of the water to be soothing, which I am aware is very strange for someone with a very strong fear of water.

I have fountains all over the house. I love all different types of fountains and am always looking for a good deal on one. So occasionally look on Craig’s List to see what is out there. What I find is usually either super high end (and quite expensive) or the super low end which is less expensive but also has quality issues.

So I was quite surprised when I came across this one really cool fountain not too long ago. I’d seen it before in catalogs and online and it is a higher quality fountain than the ones I’m used to getting. Thus it was always out of my price range. But there it was on Craig’s List and the list price was really inexpensive. I read and reread the listing looking for the flaw that must be there for such a great fountain to be listed so reasonably. Yet no mention of  water spraying straight up in the air or an unusually loud motor was made.

So I emailed my inquiry and received a response promptly.  Then life happened for a while and I forgot about this amazing find until I was cleaning out my inbox. At that point life had slowed down – I mean, I was cleaning out my inbox after all – so I sent the fountain lady another email asking if she still had the fountain. A few days later, she responded that she did have it. I happened to get that email on my birthday so I responded that since it was my birthday I wanted to get the fountain as a gift for myself.

So we set it up. I was to pick it up later in the week after work.

I arrived at her house and she invited me in. I heard a large dog in another room and saw a young girl head up the stairs to a loft area where she promptly started playing with some dolls. There was no tv on in the house (that I could hear, at least), there was a fire burning in the fireplace, and there was a beautiful Christmas tree in the corner.

The fountain lady walked over to the fountain, which was much larger than I had anticipated. It was beautiful. The copper had beautiful patina and the slate was in really good shape.  She mentioned she had considered having it running for me to see that it worked and how it looked when it was going but had opted against it because she didn’t think I would want a wet fountain in my car.

I told her it was beautiful and I started to get the money from my purse. She told me that she wanted me to take it as a birthday gift. I must have looked as puzzled as I felt. That’s when she told me that her daughter had wanted to “move” upstairs so she had needed to clear out the things that she had stored up there. And she kept going through things she had that she didn’t use or need any more. She mentioned that the only reason that she listed the fountain on Craig’s List because “what would a shelter do with something like this?” She continued on to say that it would make her heart feel good if I took the fountain.

I thanked her repeatedly and left. I decided immediately that the money I was going to pay her for the fountain, I was instead going to donate to a shelter (actually, I was going to double the amount because she was asking so little for the fountain in the first place). I mean, she would have given them the fountain if they could use it but they couldn’t. But they can use money, even if only a little.

On my drive home, I cried. I was moved. While, yes, she was sweet for giving me the fountain, that’s not what touched me.

She was a giving person, a truly generous person. She gave the things she didn’t need to shelters that do need them. And she said that as though she didn’t even know of another option.

And I had merely stumbled upon the chance to meet her.

Gratitude washed over me like…well…water in a fountain.