How It Works

What a strange and serendipitous twenty four hours it’s been...

Last night as I was driving home I decided abruptly to take the exit on the highway that lead towards the poet’s cafe I worked at while I was in school. Mondays are Open Mic and during my year of employment there I would beg and bargain my way into working every poetry event I could. These Monday nights led to an unlikely friendship between myself and a man in his sixties named Greg. Every week rain or shine Greg would appear, order a coffee, perform two poems and proceed to leave a printed out copy for me to take home…to date I have nearly a hundred of these pages saved with the few belongings I hold on to.

It turned out that aside from my roommate he would become my most regular friend, always staying after the events the catch up on what we had missed in each other’s lives. As time went on I finally worked up the courage to quit my job and drive across the country playing popcorn by interviewing interesting people whose paths I crossed. This trip fueled the bravery to embark on a series of adventures I could never have fathomed in the tiny poet’s room and I still find myself caught in amazement of how different my life has become. During the first few years of my wanderlust Greg would save up his poems and give them to me in bundles when I arrived home. It had been nearly two years since I had seen my friend or been met with a poem and last night I had the surprise of seeing my college year’s most faithful companion sitting with his new wife and a coffee cup front and center. It turns out Greg met the woman of his dreams, married, sold his house and moved to Delaware and has proceeded to honeymoon around the country by train with the unlimited Amtrack ticket he received in his retirement. In the happenstance that we both ended up in the same place at the same time he pulled a stack poems out of his manila folder and handed them to me before saying, “I always bring them with me to these things in case I run into you again.” And as if that wasn’t sweet enough his wife pulled a little business card that said Legalize Peace out of her purse that the two of them had custom made and that they decided to phrase it that way because "since everything else has been legalized we figured we might as well try for peace and see what happens." The card had a tiny four leaf clover taped to the corner and she told she has a knack for finding luck and likes to save them up and pass it on to special people.

I drove home last night with a smile on my face and very full heart but forgot the poems on my passenger seat and decided I would save them to read today at work. Then this morning as I finally found some downtime I began to read the first stanza of the first page:

How It Works

By Greg Wright

Love directs and follows, Reveals then confirms Cosmic Law; The Universe agrees with thoughts Projected or Recalled…

At this point, with the four leaf clover taped to the card in my hand I looked up at the window and saw a familiar face walking by, only...I couldn’t quite place it. The man passed by and as the recognition hit I ran towards the door, swung it open, and yelled “Cooooopeerrrrrr!” down the street. Low and behold a wonderful and inspiring traveling friend I had spent most of my time with while in Laos happened to be passing through D.C. and walked by my window right as I decided to look up. When I got past the "I can't believe it!" and "Did that actually just happen?" We were able to catch up and laugh about our ridiculous reunion and the weeks we spent in absurd company in a small town called Vang Vieng that, bless it’s heart, pulled travelers in, chewed them up and spit them out before they even knew what hit them...ourselves included.

There’s a a whole lot about this life that I’ve yet to learn but I can tell you: when the Universe smiles your way, do your best to smile back at the wonder and tiny serendipities that are all around us.

It’s only Tuesday, but what more could a happy girl with a four leaf clover ask for in this last bit of Indian Summer?