Random Exploration

 

November 28, 2022

 Greetings from the explorer,

 “In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration.”

― Ansel Adams

 Some weeks ago, I was in my daughter’s front yard, doing my best not to interfere with some repair project that I am certain I could have made more complex and undoubtedly more protracted.  But, as it turns out, I am not the axis on which the universe spins, a rather unsettling truth that once revealed took some time to forget again. 

 It was a victory of sorts though, as I was left to explore for a time.  I didn’t have to journey far.

 I had already spoken to the next-door neighbor, a chance moment where she was taking out her trash that I somehow parlayed into an hour-long conversation in her garage.  I believe she was a willing participant, although observers might have been tempted to call a hostage negotiator.     

 She was a fascinating person to meet, beginning with her name, which is Yodit.  We stood among the things she intended to organize and discussed everything from the vagaries of working from home, to the beauty of Costa Rica, to the paternalistic construct of the business world.

 It was a pleasant day, the meandering edges of two seasons.  I looked at growing things and dying things, watched anonymous birds, scurrying foragers.  I found myself there in the front yard, idling, nodding to people pushing baby strollers, or being pulled by enormous dogs.

A man came by on the sidewalk, a full head of long white hair held captive by a tattered ball cap.  He sported a matching white beard, red cheeks framing eyes with a lively, mischievous glint.  One end of a leash was wrapped in his hand, the other connected to a small dog of indistinguishable breed.  I greeted him by complimenting the animal, which we both knew was a device since neither of us believed it was attractive.

 We volleyed about the weather, neither caring what the other said about it.  He told me he had spent the morning doing political canvassing.  “Most people were pretty nice.  The stupid ones were REALLY stupid.” he said, smiling.  Somehow, the way he said it was less caustic than the words here.  I sensed his candor was well practiced, and well intentioned.

 We batted political things back and forth until one of us let that fall.  We both took a piece of an apple that was growing in the tree there in the yard.  The fruit reminded the man to say that he used to work for the state, helping farmers get assistance.  He said that it was universal that farmers would complain about government interference while taking money that made it possible to keep their farms.  We both laughed at that irony and added others.

 Later I wrote down “Farmers on the dole.”  Which should have struck me funny then but boomeranged around the universe for a while and hit me this week.  “Farmers on the dole, farmers on the dole, hi ho the merry-o the farmers on the dole.”  I laughed out loud just now, which is either sanity fading or returning.

 I may have spoken to him for fifteen minutes or an hour, I am not certain.  I do know that somehow he was chewing his piece of apple almost all the time.  It was like he kept discovering it and worked it around in his cheek until he forgot it again. 

 We parted ways, the dog being the impetus, for some reason impatient to be elsewhere although I can’t think of a creature with less reason to be rushing off than that dog. 

 Later, my Son in Life Tim asked me if I found it easier to strike up conversations like this now that I was graduated from my other career.  He confessed his head is so full of work and children and the demands of the day that he lacks the bandwidth, (his exact word) to instigate casual conversation.

 My reply was truthful, which took me by surprise since I am wont to dissemble.  It is my nature to explore other people, to strike a match to the tinder between me and a stranger.  It is something that has always come easily when I choose to pay attention to the opportunity. Now, more often, I do.

 Looking back at this little slip of time I have this reassuring sense of purpose.  Exploring, meeting those two people, was like dipping into a couple of good books.  Learning just enough to know how much I’d enjoy reading the rest.

The days are filled with beautiful alleyways and fascinating nooks, paths that seem to meander, people who might be a nuisance or a blessing.  Any of us, but perhaps especially all of us, are better to pause and pay attention.

 

Hope this finds you willing to delve,

 

David

  

 

 

Copyright © 2022  David Smith