As we were seated, there was a band playing on the stage, and Ma looked at me and said "Oh hell, is this it?!"... Um, well...kinda...
The show began and she enjoyed. As did I. A lot.
To sum it up nice and short it is the tale of a chance meeting of two people, both musicians, who meet one another at a time when they both need to learn a lesson from each other...with a chance to fall in love if they so choose, though they both have been made to be a second choice by the one they loved yet they just can't seem to let go of them.
From the beginning of the show I was captivated by a line from the leading lady "We can be saviors to one another!" as she chastises the leading man trying to get him to understand that people cross paths for a reason.
The love story goes unfolds. The music plays. It was delightful. It ends. They don't pick one another, and return to the ones who allowed them to play 'second fiddle.' I couldn't believe it. I was furious. RaRaRa. Amen.
But it was the moral that stuck with me and continued to play through my mind like one of the show's catchy tender guitar ballads, as we walked to get dinner at a pizza place in the center of Times Square. I just kept thinking about the 'chance' meetings we have in life. The people we meet once, and the difference they can have in our lives, and we in theirs. Little did I know of the experience I was about to have...
My Ma and I were just finishing up eating our pizza when a kind woman was walking around the restaurant approached our table and asked if we were having a good night. I answered that yes we were. She asked if it was our first time visiting New York and I said, "No, we've actually been here quite a few times. We love it here." She smiled and said, "Well, I am inviting you to move here!" I chuckled. She then said, "But it is hard." "I'm actually homeless." I pulled out a chair and asked her if she wanted to sit down with us for a minute. She said sure, her feet were tired and she would like to rest for a bit. But before she could sit, I asked her if she had eaten. She replied, "No." I asked her if I could buy her dinner. Quite surprised by the offer she accepted.
We went upstairs and this sweet woman got herself something to eat. As we were standing in line we chatted back and forth. About random things. About how it was kind of chilly outside. About how sad the pasta salad was looking. And then she just looked at me and said "It's hard you know. And sometimes, you just want to die. It's hard out there." I looked at this dear woman in the eyes, and the only words that came were "I can't imagine. I can't even imagine." Any one who knows me, knows I am one that doesn't lack for words. But at that moment, they wouldn't come. Maybe they weren't meant to. Maybe in that moment, all that needed to be said was...in the exchange as I looked into her kind, but sad, brown eyes, offering deep and sincere love, concern, and compassion for her the difficulties she faces each day.
I look at it this way...God was aware of this dear woman and her needs. He And He brought her to a place where He could buy her dinner, and He kindly allowed me to be a very small part of it. (I say it this way because I have been so well taken care of in my life, and my everything comes from Him, especially my plenitude...which I feel I need to share with those in need...) But how amazing that He was aware of her and her needs. There in the middle of Broadway, in the midst of tens of thousands of people, He knew her and her need and hunger. He also knew me, and that I needed this life changing lesson.
Once. Just one encounter is all I will ever have with this woman, as I will probably never see her again. Just a brief meeting in a pizza shop. A tender exchange. A gratitude filled thank you, hug, and a kiss on the cheek...and then she was off into night, lost once again amid the nameless mass of people. But that one encounter will last me a lifetime. She will probably never think of it again. But I certainly will. It will serve as a reminder that if we are willing we can be extensions of God's love to those around us anytime, anywhere, most times when we least expect it.
Think of the importance of 'once.' Most fairy tales begin with 'Once upon a time' but let us remember that when we take the time for one another, we can change each others day, each others lives. Fairy tales are full of heroes riding in saving the day...well we don't live in fairy tales, far from them...but we can be the means to help bring about the happy ending to a bad day, or a lonely time...
The meetings may be brief, and the encounter just but 'once', but the effects and echoes will be endless...
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