Meet Lois. She’s Today’s Nice Stranger*. I met her yesterday when I packed a freshly-picked-and-made fried green tomato sandwich and some balled melons speckled with spearmint, and headed on out to one of my fave Ridespots. We crossed paths and connected immediately. She had her lunch with her as well, and a picnic table beckoned so we sat down and got to know each other.
“God made an appointment for us to meet today,” Lois told me, and I agreed. It did feel like kismet.
Turns out Lois is the author of the recently-published memoir His Hand on Me: The Journey to Kennesaw about her 40-year achievement of graduating from college. Turns out God had been trying to get us to meet for a long time — we grew up 20 minutes away from each other in New York!
The funny thing is that I had just made the commitment that morning to work more sunrises, stargazing, hammocks, and picnics into my Traveling at the Speed of Bike.
To more fully let go of my rage regarding my local city’s failure to act when given the easy chance to do so this past week, on the very road where I survived a hit-and-run a year ago July 13 (and for the past ten years on roads throughout the city — see videos here, if interested).
To trust that there will be someone else to stand on my shoulders, just as I have stood on those of others. To accept that I have been blessed and released. To, as always, trust the journey.
I’m going to order Lois’ book and read it. Why don’t you join me? Let me know what questions you want me to ask her in a follow-up interview and story here on Traveling at the Speed of Bike.
*See my collection of Today’s Nice Stranger street portraits here, and a sneak peek below. Every single one of these street portraits has a conversation behind it, and a person with a story to share.
Traveling at the Speed of Bike 