Enchanté  (pron. “a(n) sha(n) tay”)

As AI , explains “[t]he French word enchanté has multiple definitions, including:

• Delighted: A common way to say “nice to meet you” in French 
• Overjoyed: Full of joy or very glad 
• Smitten: Bewitched or enchanted 

I love that word, used it as often as I could that two week stretch in the summer of 2008, when Lisa and I experienced Paris in all its glory. Loved when I heard it back from any of the locals. Sounded so much nicer without the Bronx accent.

The mystical side of me also loves the English version – Enchant, which the appropriately English Oxford Dictionary defines:

1. fill (someone) with great delight; charm. “Isabel was enchanted with the idea “Similar: captivate charm delight dazzle enrapture entrance enthrall beguile bewitch spellbind ensnare fascinate hypnotize mesmerize divert absorb engross rivet grip transfix tickle someone
2. put (someone or something) under a spell; bewitch. “Marcia had enchanted the rope so that it simply regenerated when any length was cut off”

As a writer (and a Lawyer) I wield the magical power of words, often to enchant.

Figuratively, of course,

https://medium.com/woodworkers-of-the-world-unite/the-power-of-words-2a598cab815a

And, as I have learned first hand, especially out here in NoCo, literally.

https://www.themodernmanifestation.com/post/how-to-speak-the-language-of-manifestation

But that is no surprise, I mean, it’s right there in the Good Book. Words have power. Right there from the beginning.

John 1:1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

So, yesterday afternoon. Lisa had an eye doctor appointment, to check and make sure that her expensive bionic lenses are still in place – they are (and still make that cool noise when she’s searching Casa Claire for me) – https://www.google.com/search?q=sound+of+steve+Austin%27s+bionic+eyes&rlz=1C1SQJL_enUS895US895&oq=sound+of+steve+Austin%27s+bionic+eyes&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigATIHCAQQIRigATIHCAUQIRigATIHCAYQIRirAtIBCDgyOTNqMGo3qAIIsAIB&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:12723cee,vid:N7xTWOEF2rk,st:0

but to make that determination required her doctor to dilate her pupils which meant she needed me to drive her to and from her appointment.

It was a beautiful day, the sky above Casa Claire was actually Cerulean:

And given the power of words, and my unusual eye cone color deficit, I wanted to make sure I got the description for the color just right, so I compared it on-line. Voila.

https://www.taubmans.com.au/paint-colours/colour-families/blue/bright-cerulean

So, with that as my open air canopy, I was happy to get out of the house and go along for a ride, driving Miss Lisa.

Now, after the doctor’s appointment, we had a few stops to make, including one spontaneous stop at Home Goods in Longmont, so Lisa could purchase a few electric Christmas candles. She assured me she would just be a moment, so, given four decades of her misuse of the term “a moment,” I made myself comfortable in the car and began to people watch.

I love people watching. Colorado is chock full of interesting looking people of all ages, types, genders and sizes. I like to watch them move. I try to create little stories based upon assumptions I make in the moment as they proceed from car to store and sometimes back again, often depending on what they are holding when they come out.

Given Lisa’s understanding of the term “a moment” I often get to watch people come and go.

For example, I watched a young man in his late thirties carrying a large box containing a cool looking office chair, and began to imagine him sitting alone in a home office all night inter actively gaming with his brethren from around the world.

I watched another young couple, herding their small children like cats from their large SUV to the store entrance.

And then I watched a sweet old couple, with the white haired wife patiently leading her slightly stooped husband from the disabled parking space closest to the store to its entrance. Many other shoppers passed them on their journey without seeming to notice their existence. It was like they were ghosts that only I could see.

Then I spotted a middle aged woman exiting the store carrying two Christmas wreaths. One was as natural as any faux wreaths can look, and another, slightly smaller, was metallic and glistening in the afternoon sun. Now there was just something about this woman that kept my eyes drawn to her. She could have been in her late forties or early fifties, but trim and fit. She had brown, shoulder length hair, was about 5’9″ and was wearing a light colored, button down but open collar, dress shirt and khakis. She was attractive but not stunning, in the way a model might be. Nor was she voluptuous in a way that might trigger a healthy male of any age. Thinking back on it, she reminded me of the French actress, Juliette Binoche (one of my absolute favorites). I might dare to describe her as a handsome woman.

But my eyes stayed locked on her as she travelled the twenty five yards down the next line of parked vehicles to a point just a little further away from the store than where my car was parked. Of course, she stopped at a Mercedes – which matched the confidence of her movement – and after she slid into the driver’s seat, I glanced down at her license plate and was truck by the power of the word appearing there.

And in that moment, I realized I had been enchanted. I don’t even remember watching the car drive away. It was just gone. The space in the parking lot now empty.

The temporary spell was broken moments later by my own beautiful wife, who went into a detailed commentary about the surprising lack of Christmas decorations in the store and the pure luck that her bionic eyesight spotted the set of Christmas candles tucked away in one of the aisles (probably across the store).

And just to show you that I’m not just some voyeuristic creep that likes to stare at unsuspecting passers by, I spotted this other really cool license plate directly before me on the drive back to Casa Claire.

Who knew Dick Grayson – first Robin to become Batman – lives in NoCo?!

Well, I hope this exercise in wordcraft enchanted you fine, five readers, if only for a moment, while you sipped that last cuppa caffeine. Now its time to head out into the real world and earn your keep.

Thank God Monday is behind us.

I’m off to cuddle some kitties – Mittens having taken up heated winter quarters in the Jack the Spruce bunker and Smokey comfortably domesticated inside Casa Claire. All needs are cared for with both.

Then the rounds.

But while we are all out their forming our realities out of our words, let us remember to make today a great one.