In Which I Realize That Randomness Is Amazing

So I was about to post about choice. And I will. About how we make choices and then may regret them or feel trapped by them or envious of others. But not today. Why?  Because sometimes randomness can surprise you, and make your life better.

I want to share a day with you. One day. Where all my choices had no intentions. Just plain going with the flow. This happened a week ago… and I am finally getting around to writing about it.

I wish this for all of you - throw yourself into a day, and know not what to expect – choose something without thinking of all the consequences.  Do something new. See what happens.

It begins with choosing to go to Monteverde again, even though it’s not the hottest place, or the sunniest place. Taking the van shuttle from Manuel Antonio, along highways to a dirt road, traveling the last 17 kilometers careening around corners, easily 800 meters to the bottom, spiraling higher into the clouds, only one wheel turn from death, no guardrails, no control, a roller coaster without rails. It is exhilarating to be able to totally surrender to the driver, a man who work six days a week, from 10-14 hours a day. For eight years. Reflect on that, dear reader, for my work path has always been easy compared to this. I do not have to take other people’s lives into my hands so precariously. I am lucky to be able to choose differently. But to provide for his family, the driver does this every day. Sharing the ride with two women and a couple, the man terrified , the two women laughing with glee. I remember being so happy for them as their week away begins to unfold.

Being in Monteverde the next day, without knowing that there is a Festival of Lights.  A parade through the very small streets of the town of Santa Elena, followed by wonderful fireworks. I love fireworks, and during this loud light show, all I could think of was ooh and aah…things I would always say on Canada Day on Parliament Hill. They may have been shorter, and perhaps not as spectacular, but watching them in this small town, surrounded by fellow travelers and Ticos alike, filled me with the same wonder as when I was a child. Then, later on, while relaxing outside the hostel, drinking a beer and talking to yet another cool German, Christoph, I meet up again with these two women from the bus, walking by the Pension Santa Elena with their windbreakers on and the hoods fastened neatly over their heads. There follows fifteen minutes of chance, randomness that was invigorating and witty, filled with laughter and dimples and smiles. So, if you read this blog – you know who you are – you had better email me to let me know how the rest of your trip was…okay?

But about this randomness thing in life. If we as people spend our time doing the same thing every day, and going to the same places, and eating the same things, can we really be open to the sheer pleasure and joy that comes with a random meeting?  My friend Anna does something new and then finds a friend there she has not seen for years. That's cool.

Do we grow if we choose the same route to work or by stopping at the same coffee shop every day? I think not, for as I travel, I am intrigued by the randomness of life. People meeting at a crossroads, the guy from Texas who is traveling throughout South and Central America instead of living in the States for retirement. Choosing to explore and experience different settings than those he was used to – traveling outside of the US for the first time in decades. Or the man from Germany, who is moving about for five months, perhaps to grow, perhaps to reflect on choices he has made in his recent life.

It is incredible how open people are when they travel. How somehow those who I am meeting are sharing their lives with me, giving me fodder for any books that I may write, feeding my imagination with stories and plot lines and scenarios. Stories that transcend the believable. Stories that inspire me to grow.

Here's a cool story. Guy meets girl – guy is English – proper, girl is American, gifted, military, air force. Gets shot while in a plane into a hostile area. They meet, not in the US or England, but in India, where they form a bond. They move together to Holland. Yes, Holland. Then, they decide to get married. Where? Yup, of course. Las Vegas. So, just to be different, because at this point, it’s just all so random and boring, they decide to wear their Indian sari and the male equivalent, whatever it’s called, to the wedding in Las Vegas. And, having been hitched, they decide it would be cool that the Englishman, who had never fired a weapon, should. So they go, in their wedding garb, the customary Indian wedding costumes/outfits/clothing, to a gun range in the city that never sleeps, where they proceed to receive the grand tour, culminating in firing multiple weapons of varying weights and power. I can’t write something as random as that.

What I can share is that last Friday was the Festival of Lights in Costa Rica – a kind of a time when it’s nearer the beginning of summer vacation for the kids, the start of the Christmas season. And there must be a parade. So I trekked out, and in Monteverde, it was rainy and windy (really windy -  like where did my breath go windy) and walked oh about 200 meters to the parade route, where I took some cool photos and watched as all the school bands paraded by, and a couple of floats, all in the howling wind and the rain, the kids with smiles on their faces, for it’s a big deal here. They practiced for months, the percussion bands and the baton twirlers, and the whole town and everyone within 150 kilometers turned out to watch or participate. And I enjoyed it immensely, and bought a Santa hat with lights that lit up when you pushed a button. I watched these kids with joy on their faces, and I watched the parents watch them with pride, and I enjoyed every minute. I tried to do something new with the photos, and t was fun to try. The poor kids in their costumes must have been so cold.

I did not know it was happening, and I did not plan it, and I did not realize it until just before it happened. Those who were here realized different levels of enjoyment from it. To watch the faces, to be there with them, to experience what the wonderful people of Costa Rica do for Christmas. A time where flashing lights are on the buildings and Santa is on a hotel roof. Where the decorations are everywhere, for Costa Rica is predominately Catholic, and the culture embraces the Christmas tradition. While it is odd that there will not be snow and strange to me that decorations exist on a palm tree, it still feels like the holidays! Probably because I’m on holiday…

Here, I embrace the randomness of not being entirely habitual during my day. It is the randomness of life, predicated by choices made that result in new situations and chance meetings and words said by strangers, that impact you and shift you in a different direction as your life flows to the next moment. I loved it.

All of us can do this in any normal day. It took me going away to realize it. People will always tell you their stories if you take a minute and listen. People will always share their thoughts with you on any given subject. So, if you choose to believe in fate or randomness, I hope you find something different that helps you in your journey. I wish you all a wonderful day today, and tomorrow and the next. Expect something random , recognize it and embrace it. It will change you. It changed me.

It was a very good day.