Judy.

I met a lady at the craft store the other day.  She was headed towards the checkout line, and so was I.  She must of noticed I was in a hurry by reading my body language, as she took a step back to let me go in front of her.  I responded to her gesture by immediately stopping in my tracks.  Motivated by nothing but political correctness, I offered to let her go in front of me.  She looked at me and despite my frustrated tone, she kindly insisted that I step in front of her.  I took her up on her offer as I shuffled my way in front of her.  Then I diverted my eye contact to the floor, ashamed of being so impatient that I lost my ability for basic decency.

Then to my surprise the lady started talking to me.  She introduced herself as Judy.  Judy approached me with wide eyed curiousity, geniunely showing an interest in my life through her attuned listening.  She expressed a realness about herself, discussing her reasoning behind buying zippers at a craft store, her reluctance towards sewing, and her relationship with her mother, sisters and daughter.  We played ball- I spoke and she responded, then she spoke and I responded… it wasn’t long until I swear I forgot about everything else.  Judy listened, then discussed how she admired my motivation for what I want to do in life. We talked about obtaining gratitude through looking at the world and facing the reality of all it’s adversities.  Judy told me that she was inspired to be more grateful, and I told her that I noticed  the way she talked about her daughter was a reflection of her gratitude in itself.  There were times in the midst of talking that I noticed Judy’s expression and felt perplexed by the notion that she, a stranger, was really invested in these moments that we were sharing together.  There was something unusal and special about it.

Then it was my turn to check out.  I said goodbye to Judy knowing I would never see her again, but also being okay with that.  I knew the exchange we had was so perfect that somehow it was best to leave it be.  Our conversation would stick.  I would hold onto a time and place when there was a realness that settled in between two strangers. This realness was not defined by the content of the conversation that took place between us- but by the atmosphere that we created for each other.

Thank you Judy.

Things don’t always go how I want them to go in life.  The mind thinks it knows what it wants, and it seeks exactly those things.  But I don’t believe in my mind nearly as much as I believe in the pleasant experiences that life presents when I am not looking for them.  I believe that these surprises, big and small are fate, and maybe fate has more in store than the plans my mind creates.  To be honest, things are in transition right now, and while I might have moments when I find I am losing to my mind… I have to believe that everything is going to be just fine, even when things seem not fine.