your daily rock : drop everything and help

I went to see poet Andrea Gibson perform in Asheville on Thursday night of this week. As always, she was amazing.

I left around 9:45pm after the show to head home. My car was up a hill from the Emerald Lounge where the event was held, and it was cold. The kind of cold that makes you walk faster.

The street was quiet, so I imagine the man in front of me with the blue coveralls could hear my fast footsteps; he turned to see who was fast approaching. “Hi,” I said, “how are you doing?” as I came even with him. I didn’t really slow down for his answer. Even the question was an auto-reflex, a “what you say” as you pass kind of thing, a phrase in motion as you keep moving.

But instead of the “I’m good, you?” I expected, there was silence, which stopped me, and so I looked to my left again, before heading up the hill to my car.

“I don’t really know,” he finally said, walking slowly. “I don’t really know how I’m doing.”

I was cold. It had been one of the longest days I’d had in quite a while. John had gone for his check-up scans for signs of cancer, Tess had gone to the dentist which can be unpredictable, I had taught a class, driven 3 hours back and forth for various things, seen an emotional and powerful show, and here I was on the street with a stranger who is answering my unconscious question with a conscious answer.

I stopped walking, and turned to face him. “That sounds hard,” I said. “Can I do anything to help?”

Like many people who have lived in big cities–I was in DC for over 20 years–I was ready for the ask: money.

It didn’t come.

“Could you pray with me?” he said quietly.

And so, on that street corner in the cold, under a streetlight, we held hands and prayed.

Cold or not, busy or not, rushed or not, tired or not, drop everything and help in the way others need to be helped.

Love,

(These beautifully painted rocks are created by Kim Mailhot, aka The Rock Fairy.