A tent, a conversation on daughters, and Heaven

The day was a slow, sunny afternoon in mid to late April 2025. I was downtown at my sales job working in outdoor adventure retail. Watched customers check out a Marmot tent set up on the floor across from where I was stationed in the Climbing Department. The blue, green, and gray tent was a classic tent for short backpacking trips. A bit on the heavy side, but sturdy and robust. Tough. A young father and two adorably dressed girls were all playing around and in the tent. His daughters were so excited! They bounced and crawled around inside the tent laughing, giggling, and chattering. Their Dad squatted down outside zipping and unzipping the door zipper of the tent; checking out how smoothly the zipper ran on its track. He laughed and smiled at his little girls.

As there was a lull of sorts in Climb, I walked over and said, “Hello, it’s ok to check out the tent.”

Also mentioned I have three daughters of my own, but they were all grown up now. They were, however, like his once. His two reminded me of my kids’ energy back when they were young.

“Oh, you have three daughters?” The man said as he continued to zip and unzip the tent door. He turned around part-way upon his haunches and looked up at me, eye to eye, with a sparkle in his brown eyes. “Do you know what it means when you have three daughters?”  Continue reading →