If you’ve been part of the Unimatic family for a while, you know that my Dad’s birthday is June 21st and we tend to want to celebrate a little extra that day. I’d always assumed that when we got to Unimatic #621, I’d pluck it from the shelves and hold onto it. Little sentimental things like that will always get me. Thing is, between quarantine and new ways of doing just about everything, I forgot. Unimatic #621 got sent out before I realized what had happened. I was bummed, but was at least happy that it found a new home and would be loved for generations to come.
One Sunday, I was getting a head start on a busy week, packing up a Unimatic to swap for a member of the fam who inadvertently adopted a pot for the wrong kind of stove. I was having a particularly rough go that day - everything felt uncertain, so many of our plans had been halted or cancelled, it was just one of those days of feeling lost when I wished I could ask my Dad for advice or brainstorm together. You can imagine how happy I was when I received an email from the family of Unimatic #630 at just the right moment. Madeleine told me that she got emotional when she opened the package and saw the number she’d received, totally by chance. June 3rd was the day she lost her Dad and it meant the world to her. It made my loss of #621 sting a little less and reminded me that regardless of “plans,” we were still doing what we set out to do, help people connect more deeply to themselves, others and the days of their life through coffee.
Then, I happened to open the box of the Unimatic that was sent back to us to swap, and I froze. Staring back at me, was Unimatic #621. It found it’s way back to me, all on its own. If that’s not a reminder that anything is possible, and that uni-magic exists, I don’t know what is…
Dear Harris, thank you so much for adopting the wrong Unimatic. Thank you so much for sending #621 back home. Thank you for being part of the grand scheme of reminding me that magic always exists, sometimes you just need to allow yourself to feel the sting of what hurts, choose where you focus your attention, commit to a positive step forward and stay open. I will be eternally grateful for your “mistake” that turned out to be exactly according to plan all along :)