Christmas Eve, Trish and I are at our favorite Mexican restaurant to get food to go for our Christmas Eve dinner. We sit at the bar, consume a couple of margaritas, and talk to the bartenders while we wait for the food. With glasses empty, bill paid, and food in hand, we get up to leave, walking the length of the bar towards the exit. The bar is separated from the restaurant by a half wall, making for a narrow path between the wall and the row of bar chairs. This side of the bar is almost empty except for the last couple of chairs, occupied by an African-American couple. The man is around half my age, well built and large and he sits with his arm resting on the back of her chair.
It’s important to understand that one of the ways the Boss communicates with me is giving me a sense of what I am to do without any real words. And like so many other times when I experience the sensation I anticipate what is coming; I perform an act or movement, I open my mouth and words come out. Often, if not most times, I have no idea what I will say. More times than not the words surprise me. I expect this time to be no different.
As I step by the couple, and with an ever so slight pause, I place my hand on his shoulder, turn to them, and open my mouth to talk… but there was nothing. For the first time ever no words were waiting for me. My mind, in a panic, searches for something to say, settling on the traditional Christmas greeting. But before I could say it, the man, his face slightly turned to me, says “Merry Christmas my Brother”. I reply in kind.
A very deep and satisfying sense of connectivity hit me. I had instigated the interaction yet he was first to extend the greeting. From an outsider’s perspective, the interaction between two friends would appear fluid, with no pause on my part or his. But we are not friends, we are two strangers whose only connection is being in the same place at the same time, both sharing the same desire to wish others a Merry Christmas.
Copyright © 2024 G. Steven Nolte – Rights for non-commercial reproduction granted: May be copied in its entirety, but neither retyped nor edited.