The Black Couches

It was an exciting time for our family. We were moving out from a tiny apartment to a new home. I was pleased to think that this was the time to buy furniture, matching accessories and more fixtures for our new home. While shopping around, we were absolutely ecstatic to find a wholesale furniture company that offered magnificent discounts.

On Sunday, we set up an appointment to see the show room. We easily chose furniture for the kids’ rooms, master bedroom, and the kitchen. Yet, there was nothing that we liked for our living room. Seeing our difficulty at picking from the available living room sets, the owner of the warehouse suggested that we take a set of three black couches that included an armchair, a love seat and a sofa for almost no cost. This was his last set and he wanted to give it away. While my husband found this to be a tremendous financial savings opportunity, I was not thrilled. The couches were black and did not match my ideal design of the new living room. Yet, my husband kept insisting that the set was almost free and we can make it work for the time being. I reluctantly agreed.

The owner of the store offered to deliver our purchased furniture in his truck. While following the truck home, my mother called me to share great news. She decided to give us a new living room set. It was a set of white leather couches that I always dreamed of. Now the question was, what we were to do with the set of black couches that we agreed to take. Since we practically received them as a gift, we decided to use this opportunity and donate the set to anyone who might need the furniture. I called my friend and asked if she or anyone she knows might need a new set of couches. She told me that they recently bought new furniture, however her sister-in-law is looking for new couches. Then my friend paused and added that that family is very particular and only want furniture in black color.

We later learned that exactly one year ago, the sister-in-law of my friend lost her precious three year old daughter. She fell asleep on the couch and died in her sleep from brain aneurysm. In absolute grief and despair, the family threw away the old couches and decided not to have any living room furniture for the entire year. As time went on and the horrific year was coming to the end, the family symbolically decided to purchase a set of black living room couches. Yet, due to the overwhelming depression, the family also suffered financial difficulties and were struggling to make the ends meet. I was not aware that I called my friend just few days before the anniversary of the tragic event. We were in complete shock. It was clear that without understanding the ‘plan’, we were part of something bigger then we thought. Here we were, buying furniture for our new home and moments later we were at the door of the family who suffered unimaginable loss. I knew that we were at the right time in the right place.

We rang the bell and I introduced myself to my friend’s sister–in-law and her husband. It was difficult to conceal my emotions but I casually mentioned that my friend suggested that the set of new black couches might find its home here. The family was surprised at our visit but agreed to accept our delivery. It was absolutely indescribable to observe their reaction as the new couches were being unloaded from the truck. They couldn’t believe their eyes. “It’s a miracle”, I heard the woman say. My husband and I stood in silence, as the family saw the black couches simply appear in front of their house at the time they needed it. There are no words to describe what it felt like to be a small puzzle piece of someone else’s Miracle.