If I hadn’t forgotten my phone that cold November morning, I never would have noticed the color of her eyes. They were a pristine blue-green, the color of Caribbean waters. Our paths had crossed every morning while walking our dogs. And every morning our dogs greeted each other, completing their ritualistic hellos, as she and I traded niceties.
If I hadn’t forgotten my phone, I never would have heard of her loneliness since losing her husband of fifty years. I never would have known of her severe arthritis and courage to push her 78 yr old arthritic joints to carry on every day and walk her sweet Spaniel. I never would have shared that moment of mutual sadness over loss or getting old. I never would have been able to brighten her day by listening to her grief and agreeing that life’s mantra just has to be “One Day At a Time”.
So, as I said ” Have a good day” and trotted off with my dog, tears welled up in my eyes, I wondered about how many other moments of engagement have I missed in my life?
If I hadn’t forgotten my phone, I would have been unavailable to “see” that moment coming. I would have been unavailable to “see” her. So I came home, had my second cup of coffee, and pondered about how many more moments of connectivity I have left on my journey. How many more paths are out there that I will have missed because I wasn’t looking? Is there a road less traveled that I need to find or better yet, needs to find me?
I guess my newest vow is to make more eye contact and be eager to connect. To seek out those moments or unclear paths that are right under my nose or in my line of vision. How many more unique eye colors are out there waiting to be deciphered? How many more life stories are hiding behind those eyes?
So, I am casting my vote this holiday season to be less plugged in and more available . I vote for engagement and connectivity. Yes, indeed…the “eyes” have it!
Dreamy
Well said. It seems that I rarely stop the motion of living to truly live. Thank you for providing me with the words to shove me towards a goal to work toward. Love you Lisa!
Love this post, I heard briefly on NPR about a greeting from another country, don’t know exactly where because I only caught the end of the episode that the greeting in that country differed from ours. Instead of hello how are you? Standard courtesy of saying hello in the US. The difference was “Hello, I see you…. followed by the one being greeted, ” I want to be seen”. I found this so moving! My association to your meeting this woman by “chance” taking notice of the other wanting to be seen.