Chance Meeting

Now that was interesting. IN the middle of this god-aweful torrential downpour and electrical extravaganza of a storm, there comes a knocking on my door. I can't imagine who would be out and about in this deluge, let alone coming to visit me! As fate would have it, it was Lauren. Perky, sweet, innocent Lauren with her way too tiny umbrella and clipboard with all of one signature on it. Immediately I ushered her into my home with a "Oh my, come inside my dear--quickly." Hospitality toward strangers is a gift that I rarely get to
offer on such grand a scale!

We started by me letting her give her presentation--the thing that found her knocking on doors in the rain in the first place--, which I cut off after about 30 seconds...the poor young lady was dripping creating a puddle in my foyer. I offered her a towel, refreshed her water bottle, apologized for the lived in condition of my home, and signed her "save the Chesapeake Bay petition"--on line #2. She used the towel, thanked me for the water, poo-poo-ed my concern over a home that didn't look ready for a Southern Living photo-shoot. And then her phone rang and her supervisor called to ascertain her condition. We gave her my address; she was driving around "rescuing" her people--and then we retired to the living room.

Roméo did his best to be a good host, too. He actually brought her one of his bones and laid it at her feet--I was so proud of him!

While we waited for her ride to arrive I asked and she told me about her majors. One was English, and so I asked her about the writers she enjoyed. Given her present task of saving the bay, I took advantage of the moment to introduced her to Mary Oliver and read to her the poem "Wild Geese".

"Wild Geese"

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

She asked me about my large statue of Buddha in my living room and told me about a comparative religion course she had recently taken. I told her that I am an atheist, and that while I enjoy quotes of Buddha shared on Facebook, most of what I know about him is from reading (several times over) Herman Hesse's "Siddartha". Another author I got to share with this nascent English major!

Soon her cell buzzed again announcing the arrival of her supervisor on the street outside of my home, and I saw her off to the safety of her friend's car.