07.30 A Present at the Metro

07.30 A Present at the Metro

I was feeling a little off today after a late night. At about 4:30 in the afternoon I decided to go for walk. I wanted to walk to the square outside the metro to buy a comic for one of my friends. I got to the square and maybe because it was late, and maybe because it was foggy, the comic vendor was not there. I had an urge to explore so I went to walk on a street a little bit past the metro that I have never walked on before. I was walking around and looking at some of the vendors selling clothing, bags and jewelry. I walked past this one vendor. A middle aged man selling handmade jewelry, he said something to me in Portuguese and I told him that I do not speak Portuguese. He switched to English and asked me where I was from. I told him the United States, New Jersey, and he told me that he was from Ecuador but his wife and daughter have been living in the United States for the past 15 years, they live in North Carolina. I told him he must miss them. He said yes then he asked me for my hand. I gave it to him and he looked at my index finger and picked up a ring and said this is a present for you. I said no, no, no, but he put it on my finger. I tried to buy something from him but he would not let me. He gave me a hug and I left. The sky on the walk home was gray and orange, a beautiful foggy sunset. The sky had an ethereal glow and it felt almost surreal. I couldn’t help but think the gift was a gift from my dad. My dad had passed away two years ago this same week. My dad was a Jeweler. The ring that the man gave me was delicate and fit me so perfectly. It was made out of a silver metal. Just writing about this brings tears to my eyes – makes me think that there is some kind of energy out there that is so much greater than us and connects us all and when you are receptive to it beautiful things happen. He missed his daughter and I missed my dad – the two of us had never seen each other before, and we didn’t even talk for that long, but we knew each other.