October 19, 2006

Whoopin it up!

Today, I crossed the field where the local Smithie girls play Ultimate Frisbee, noticing my feet getting kind of damp from the wet grass. As I stepped onto the sidewalk, my world abrubtly converged with a stranger's.

She (the stranger) was riding along on her bicycle in all her short-haired, salvation army attired, messenger bag shouldered glory when, suddenly, some unnamed joy seized upon her so that just before we would enter each other's visual fields, she belted forth a loud whoop...a hearty "WooHoooooooo!", that she let arc out of her young, proud mouth.


For the briefest of moments, we were face to face, her head turned to greet me as I stepped out from behind the fence, and our eyes met and lit up, and our faces beamed acknowledging smiles at what had just been shared. Then she was gone, my bicycle messenger of joy.

(Image from www.vanillabicycles.com because this post is about the convergence of strangers, and bicycles and joy, and in my humble opinion Vanilla Bicycles are all about joy in the form of bicycles, and I suppose I could fit strangers in there too if I thought about it.)

3 comments:

Unknown said...

pure delight

thanks for sharing the moment!

Anonymous said...

Hidden bodhisattva.

Did I tell you ever about the cold, grey, rainy winter day in Margaret Thatcher's England I was walking down this totally empty suburban (but somehow not residential - what was behind those blank brick walls?) street. Approaching me on the sidewalk was a little girl, maybe 6 years old, carrying roller skates. No one else is anywhere in sight on this street, and I'm thinking, I must look a bit scary, a strange guy, unkempt, unshaven, wearing a jacket several sizes too big, scowling at the weather. And I looked at her and she looked at me and suddenly, just as we passed each other, for no reason, we both grinned.

It was magic.

famjaztique said...

rm - I've always said, "share the wealth" even if it's just in the form of spreading a little joy around.

Numster, no, you never did tell me this story. I'm glad you have now because it is perfectly delightful!