Letter from Rini

I had just returned from nine months of traveling through Europe, New Zealand, Australia, and Southeast Asia. I was searching — for direction, for a sign, for whatever people mean when they say they’re “finding themselves.” I didn’t find enlightenment, but I did have a spectacular time. When I got back to London, I needed a new place to live and somehow landed on a rental listing in Maida Vale. I say “somehow” because it made no geographical sense — my office was nowhere near there. But the Universe, as it turns out, had a plan.

My future housemate Claire opened the door wearing a robe that was perfect. Comfortable. Timeless. Effortlessly chic. I asked her where she got it. She told me, with full Aussie candor, that her sister had stolen it from a hotel in Bali.

I had *just* been to Australia. I had *just* been to Bali. And here was this robe — comfortable, beautiful, and completely unlike anything I’d ever been able to find for myself.

Lightning bolt.