So today is May the 4th (Star Wars Day) and I feel like a Padawan catching a glimpse of the power of The Force.
Two weeks ago I had no idea that I would be cast in a film shoot for a government health campaign. Actually, a month ago I thought by today I would be caring for Beatriz as she recuperates from knee surgery. Due to a lingering throat infection, the surgery didn't happen. This made Beatriz available for an opportunity to be part of a TV commercial about healthy ageing.
The shoot went so well, that after dancing to only 5 salsa tracks, the director yelled cut and told the dancers we were done for the day. And just like that, the crew got up and started re-rigging the camera, lights and the set, preparing for the next shot on the list.
Feeling happy after a lucrative afternoon's work we were literally on our homeward drive when we stopped at the intersection awaiting the traffic lights. The plan was to turn right and head directly home via Marrickville Road. As I waited I noticed that some cars had queued up behind us also waiting to cross the intersection, I made a quick calculation looking at the bank of cars on the other side waiting to cross to our side. If I insist on turning right, no one else from my side of the intersection can get across on this phase of green, so I asked Beatriz if we can go straight to go home? She said yes, that will also get us on an alternate route home. As we weren't in any hurry, I decided to be kind to the motorists behind me and went straight ahead when lights turned green.
Because we were now on an alternate route, it led us through another suburb. which made us think of our dear friend Fred, who lived there, and we haven't seen for a while. We rang him, he was home, and we dropped in for a visit.
This is where it got real. Before leaving Fred, he asked us if we still gave clothing for the homeless, he had a few items he wanted to give away. Beatriz accepted it with the intention of passing it on to a particular homeless person she knew. Maybe the only homeless person I knew that she knew -a fellow named Luigi (not his real name). At the time, I was thinking we'd end up holding on to those clothes until next time we see Luigi. Do you know how hard it is to find a specific homeless person? Unlike wildlife migrations that are at least predictable, the homeless seem to move around all the time just to keep moving,
We spotted Luigi on our street corner as we arrived home, Beatriz called out to him.The Force had used us to conduct Fred's charity to Luigi.
Just to give you an inkling of how improbable the timing of this was, we were also stopped for police RBT (random breath test) on our way home. That must have added an extra 3 minutes to our regular journey. Also, we haven't seen Luigi in months, and frankly I wasn't sure if we'd ever see him again.
- If we were late by another 30 seconds we would have missed him entirely.
- If I insisted on turning right at Marrickville, we wouldn't have seen Fred.
I had this mental image of an impetuous Anakin casually stepping off a flying car only to land perfectly on another passing vehicle.
We let go of our plans, and The Force guided us along the rest of our day.
We let go of our plans, and The Force guided us along the rest of our day.
It kinda reminds me of the title of this blog.
