Have you ever had a chance meeting with someone, and then times goes by and you wonder where they are? Or maybe they just pop into your head once in a while. Maybe it was someone you met in an airport bar while you were both killing time waiting for your plane, and you struck up a conversation.
Or it could have been someone you met while you were away on vacation. Maybe you both ended up at the same white water rafting rental place somewhere, spent a few hours together, and then you never see each other again.
The world is such a big place with so many people, I sometimes wonder about these chance meetings. There are just so many little things that had to happen for each of you to have ended up at that same location, at that same time. Change any one of a million things prior to the meeting, and the meeting doesn’t take place. Isn’t that interesting? I think so.
My wife and I were recently on a vacation in New Mexico. While we were there we wanted to experience the hot springs they are famous for. We didn’t want to go to the commercialized springs; you know the ones with paving and changing rooms and for a price, some towels. We found the perfect one.
Perched high above the road on the side of a mountain, or a very big hill, not sure which, is this beautiful hot spring we read about. We parked our car, grabbed our suits and our towels and followed the very vague directions we received from a National Park employee, and headed down a dirt path. The path snaked downward at a fairly steep grade until we crossed a walking bridge. We looked up in the direction the path led and saw nothing but trees, trees and more trees. The grade up the other side was just as steep as the grade we just walked down.
The longer we walked, the less the path looked like a path, and just when I was about to give up the hunt, we heard voices. After a few minutes we came upon this beautiful setting of a hot spring, perched precariously on the side of a hill.
About 3 minutes after we arrived at the spring, another couple showed up and we shared this hot spring experience with them. My point is this. It took me 53 years and change to arrive at this particular hot spring in the middle of nowhere. At the precise time we arrived, so did another couple, coming from the opposite side of the Country. If I only changed 1 thing just that day, we wouldn’t have met. If we chose to stop to eat first, we wouldn’t have met these nice people.
To be honest I was a little disappointed to find we had company when we arrived, but these were two very nice people. Jeremiah was the guys name and I forget the woman’s name, not because she didn’t make an impression, because she did, but because I’m bad with names. We spent maybe 45 minutes there with them, casually talking, but mainly concentrating on the beautiful view as we looked out over the edge of the hot spring. The sun was low in the sky, as it was late in the afternoon. We could see a rain cloud in the distance coming our way, at one point we did get a little sprinkle. Sitting in nature’s hot tub with a light rain falling, well, it doesn’t get much better than that.
At one particular moment there we were, 4 strangers from 2 different parts of the country, enjoying this special place. We were just gazing about enjoying the portrait before us. There wasn’t constant talking, it wasn’t necessary.
After a few moments of comfortable silence, my wife said, to know one in particular, “this meeting is very serendipitous”, and Jeremiah answered while staring off into the distance, “It’s significant.”
I have to agree with him. I wonder where he is and what he’s doing. I hope all is well.
Or it could have been someone you met while you were away on vacation. Maybe you both ended up at the same white water rafting rental place somewhere, spent a few hours together, and then you never see each other again.
The world is such a big place with so many people, I sometimes wonder about these chance meetings. There are just so many little things that had to happen for each of you to have ended up at that same location, at that same time. Change any one of a million things prior to the meeting, and the meeting doesn’t take place. Isn’t that interesting? I think so.
My wife and I were recently on a vacation in New Mexico. While we were there we wanted to experience the hot springs they are famous for. We didn’t want to go to the commercialized springs; you know the ones with paving and changing rooms and for a price, some towels. We found the perfect one.
Perched high above the road on the side of a mountain, or a very big hill, not sure which, is this beautiful hot spring we read about. We parked our car, grabbed our suits and our towels and followed the very vague directions we received from a National Park employee, and headed down a dirt path. The path snaked downward at a fairly steep grade until we crossed a walking bridge. We looked up in the direction the path led and saw nothing but trees, trees and more trees. The grade up the other side was just as steep as the grade we just walked down.
The longer we walked, the less the path looked like a path, and just when I was about to give up the hunt, we heard voices. After a few minutes we came upon this beautiful setting of a hot spring, perched precariously on the side of a hill.
About 3 minutes after we arrived at the spring, another couple showed up and we shared this hot spring experience with them. My point is this. It took me 53 years and change to arrive at this particular hot spring in the middle of nowhere. At the precise time we arrived, so did another couple, coming from the opposite side of the Country. If I only changed 1 thing just that day, we wouldn’t have met. If we chose to stop to eat first, we wouldn’t have met these nice people.
To be honest I was a little disappointed to find we had company when we arrived, but these were two very nice people. Jeremiah was the guys name and I forget the woman’s name, not because she didn’t make an impression, because she did, but because I’m bad with names. We spent maybe 45 minutes there with them, casually talking, but mainly concentrating on the beautiful view as we looked out over the edge of the hot spring. The sun was low in the sky, as it was late in the afternoon. We could see a rain cloud in the distance coming our way, at one point we did get a little sprinkle. Sitting in nature’s hot tub with a light rain falling, well, it doesn’t get much better than that.
At one particular moment there we were, 4 strangers from 2 different parts of the country, enjoying this special place. We were just gazing about enjoying the portrait before us. There wasn’t constant talking, it wasn’t necessary.
After a few moments of comfortable silence, my wife said, to know one in particular, “this meeting is very serendipitous”, and Jeremiah answered while staring off into the distance, “It’s significant.”
I have to agree with him. I wonder where he is and what he’s doing. I hope all is well.
The picture above shows the couple whose voices we heard that led us in the direction of the spring. The woman in the spring is one of the people I write about in this post. What a beautiful place.
No comments:
Post a Comment