Hand n. a person or a person's action, skill, or power
One must have possession or control over the other, right? This is not always necessarily true, but usually the latter must tip the hat of the former. Roads will diverge, collide, and then spill their collections of souls; only to swallow them all up again...shaking the contents in this mad game of Chance we call life. Sometimes, it is not so much that I know where I am going, but more so that I am following the path where it is leading. I have always known that I am on the right one...even when it was headed in the wrong direction. Here is a story of a well-placed sign to offer guidance for the road ahead; an indication that there is time for everything...and that everything has its time. Here you go, and may you enjoy.
I have been known to bear my soul now and then - to friends, acquaintances, and sometimes even complete strangers. But how was I to know that a few appropriately placed words could turn complete strangers into possible close connections? I met this couple while I was working and they were having their last taste of East Coast seafare, on their last night on the East Coast. They told me a tale of how they had no rush to be anywhere, except to the airport from whence they would be taking off from in the early hours of the morning. I told them how I had spent the last five years - well, six now - travelling abroad, and had whiled away many an hour in airports, train stations, and bus terminals; even sitting on the side of a highway, waiting for a good samaritan to stop and pick me up. For some reason, it seemed like an opportune time to network my life vocation...beats me. Something just guided me, I guess you could say.
"I could tell you a book to read, while you were killing time in the airport", I started, "But it will not be published for another two years." As I said these words, the woman's eyes seemed to illuminate light from within. Turns out, she just published her own book, and that it is due out in less than a month. It seems the storyline in one of great hardships and heartbreaking tragedies...all lined up one after another. But, from her mouth came nothing but words of hope - hope, faith, and the assured knowledge that everything will always be okay. I stood listening to her as she described her life, the entire time knowing that fate was in the room. They told me how they had started their dinner plans in another restaurant downtown, but felt that their presence was better needed somewhere else - then, not even a half hour later, they found themselves as my guests while I served them supper. We never know why things happen the way they do, people, because we are not meant to know. That would take away all the fun of the surprise, would it not?
We traded small memories, and I listened as they fed me small pointers on how to prepare for what is upcoming. We swapped phone numbers, email addresses, websites, and titles of our books. Then we made plans to contact each other soon, hugged...and before I knew it, they were gone. I remember walking home later, when the realization of what happened sunk in to my senses. A light mist of rain sprinkled my face, and my soul overcame my body; for a brief few seconds, it was released from the shackles of my human vessel. During that short stall of time, I touched the heavens, and then the feeling was gone. But, it is the experience that remains...like it was meant to be and like it always will be. For it will not be so far away that my dream becomes a reality, and my soul will never again feel any boundaries. When it is all said and done, people, it is only up to us to go and grab what is written for us in the stars.
And to think, all this because the hand was pointed in the right direction. Until we meet again, people, until we meet again.
"So, be kind to a stranger
Cuz you never know
It might just be an angel
Come knocking at your door."
- Ben Harper
