Aside from working like a fool, much to my dismay, I haven't really been doing a lot. I work as a makeup artist during the day and on the weekends and teach as an Assistant Professor of Foundational Writing at night. Pretty exciting, eh?
Long story short, I haven't had many blog-worthy experiences to speak of over these past few months. Except for the other day.
I had a day off and decided to spend it in Princeton, having some lunch, walking around the shops, and doing a little writing on campus in the brisk fall air. I went to lunch at the BEST Indian restaurant ever called Cross Culture. (If you ever get a chance to go, GO! It is Ahhh- MAAAZing!) At lunch, I brought my iPad and earbuds to do some reading while I ate. I wasn't looking for a friend, a conversation, a pal... I was looking to eat my lunch, in quiet, with my book. So when a small, old, Indian man sat alone at the table three inches from mine, I smiled politely and then returned to my book. Every so often he would say something to me, and I would respond politely, yet briefly, and then resume my reading. He told me that he came to this restaurant every week with his friends and they sat at the big table in the corner. He told me that he had lost his wife last year and that they had been planning a big trip to Australia before she had gotten sick. He told me that he didn't order off the menu and instead the chef made him a special item because he was such a regular at the restaurant.
When his food came out he turned to me with the cutest little smile and a twinkle in his eye and asked if I would like to try some of his dish. I politely refused - not because I didn't want to try it, but more because I felt a little odd digging my spoon into a stranger's meal. But when I declined he looked at me and said that he insisted and fixed me a little plate. And as he handed it over to me and I thanked him, he looked me straight in the eye and said, "No need to thank me. Life, my dear, is meant to be shared."
I smiled and truly appreciated his gentle eyes and his toothy grin. His adorable face, paired with his generous offer, immediately made me tear up. I tried to hide from him the fact that his little pearl of infinite wisdom had made me so emotional. Here I was trying to disconnect from the world and from others and it took a chance encounter with a stranger to reminder that that's not what life's about.
This encounter reminded me that some of the greatest chance encounters I've ever had happened when I was dining alone. I would start my meal alone and then would end up making a new friend. It happened several times when I was living in Europe, and I allowed it to happened there because, in my mind, I was on "adventure" and that's what adventurers do! But why did it need to be different just because I was home and living in the land of the familiar? Maybe this was that way to infuse some newness into my ordinary and routine life! By stepping outside of my comfort zone, by opening myself up to something different, something outside of my expectations, maybe I'd be pleasantly surprised that life isn't all that ordinary or routine.
Afterall, Pruesh, my Indian friend is right - "Life is meant to be shared."
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