Strangers On A Bus

We talked,
We walked,
For a Moment in Time.
You passed through my life that day and left your mark.
 
You may never pass my way again,
Or you may stay for a lifetime.

I enjoyed the walk,
I enjoyed the talk.
I am blessed for that moment in time.

 by Cynthia Kepp

When you woke this morning did you have an inkling of what the day might bring?    perhaps you had an appointment arranged, or  planned to meet a friend for a coffee,  a regular get  together that you look  forward  to all  week maybe, or the chance to catch up with the life of a friend unmet for a long time.     it could be that when you stepped out of bed you believed the day was planned, organised, or an open book, an adventure waiting to whisk you off to places unknown,  people unmet,  opportunities undreamed of.    either way it's most likely other humans featured somewhere if only briefly and at a distance.    

One thing i can be sure of,  any time you or i step out to meet the world we never know where we could end up or who might transect our path.    most of my dearest friends have entered my life in the most unsought ways and a few have re-entered it repeatedly over the years, ebbing and flowing like the tide on Lindisfarne.

When my bizniz had to close i knew i would be devastated.   but what i discovered   when i examined my deepest thoughts and feelings was that it wasn't losing my livelihood or the closing of a very successful and popular enterprise that i dreaded  most but that i could lose the people who worked for me, laughed with me, supported me, who had become as brothers and sisters, friends, my "children."  when i woke the morning after closing the doors for the last time it was those humans who came to mind with the opening of my eyes, there was a gap in my world that was chris shaped, sue shaped, caron shaped, kat shaped, Nathan shaped, anne-anne shaped......so many names, so many memories, so much to miss.

Yet.......all those names had started out as strangers, people i could sit beside on a bus or wait in line with for coffee and cake and not notice, never think about again, not even make eye contact with.    yet........in one moment of time we  crossed a line, all  it took was a smile, a grasping of the  hand,  a  "hi, i'm jeni, who are you?"  and in that moment everything changed......strangers no more,  the etch of a smile already becoming dear and familiar,  the voice so quickly becoming as recognisable as my own. 
 

It's a cliche to say "every stranger is a friend you haven't yet met".   all those hundreds of thousands of strangers will stay just that......strange! !  but it's true.......  "every friend was once a stranger".......some of whom will still be strange but that's something else altogether!!    

I wonder if it's possible to train ourselves to see beyond people's otherness and recognise  a potential friend in the crowd......i wonder how much joy i've missed by walking obliviously past a soul sister without a second glance.......i wonder.........