New Beginnings

Jasmine jumped at the sound of someone knocking at her front door. “Finally,” she said aloud even though there was no one to hear her but her elderly cat Thomas.

Thomas looked at her balefully as she scrambled up from their nest of pillows, jostling him in the process. They had spent a somewhat quiet hour together as Jasmine had attempted to meditate in order to get her mind off the waiting. He must have realized that Jasmine wasn’t coming back because Thomas just yawned and went back to sleeping.

Jasmine hurried toward the front door. The last two days had passed agonizingly slowly, ever since she had clicked “place order” on Amazon.com. She’d agonized over the extra cost of 2 day shipping but now regretted not choosing overnight shipping. Now it was here.

Maybe 50 years old was too old to be starting something new but that seemed to be the theme of her life at the moment. Since the divorce, Jasmine was living on her own for the first time in her life. She had married early going straight from living with her parents to living with her new husband.

Jasmine jerked open the front door and waved to the UPS driver as he drove away. Then all she could do was stare at the large box on her doorstep. Did they really need such a large box for such a small little thing? Jasmine shrugged and smiling pulled the box inside, shutting the door behind her.

It was finally here and Jasmine couldn’t wait to get started. She ran into her kitchen for a butter knife and was back at her front door in a flash. The sound of the butter knife slicing through the packing tape was incredibly satisfying. One stop closer, she thought as she set the butter knife aside and tore open the box. She pulled out the brown packaging paper and tossed it aside, a little disappointed to find another box.

Pulling out the smaller box, she set it down in front of her. Panicking a little she looked around for the butter knife, sighing when it appeared under the last piece of brown packing paper. The tape on this new box never stood a chance as she ripped into it with entirely too much force, so impatient was she to open her prize. She set the knife down beside her and threw open the box, going still as she beheld her most secret desire.

A tear leaked out of the corner of her eye as she picked up the case and hugged it to her. She cleared a space in the carnage that surrounded her and carefully put the case down. Slowly, she unzipped the case and opened it. Smiling she gazed down at the thing she had been dreaming about since she was 10 years old. Jasmine picked up her very first violin and place it under her chin.