MOMENTS OF CONNECTION

Yesterday, I became friends with a stranger outside of a coffee shop. Let me explain.

Before I left my house, I asked the universe, 

WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE ME KNOW TODAY?

The universe took a breath and said, "Hold my coffee."

I never actually made it inside the coffee shop. My backpack and snacks sat on an outside table while I was on the phone, dutiful to advisor check ins and a potential employer. A bearded man wearing a camo vest with orange lettering walked past me. I noticed him because he stopped in his tracks, looked over his shoulder, and stared at me. This isn't exactly uncommon. I do have quite a bit of tattoos and wear glasses that for whatever reason people REALLY love to compliment. But he didn't say anything. He stepped into the coffee shop and that was it. Or so I thought. 

I must have been circling the coffee shop building for an hour in between phone calls. I had forgotten about the bearded man entirely. After ending my last phone call, the bearded man exited the coffee shop and walked past me. Then he stopped, turned around and asked me, "That tattoo on your neck. What does it mean?"

The introvert in me wanted to crawl into my backpack and zip myself shut. The polite, people pleaser in me answered his question. "It's two tattoos actually. One means Om, the sound of the universe and the other means inner peace."

The bearded man turned around to face me completely, setting his iced sugar latte onto an outside table and continued our conversation for an hour and a half. 

He started off with saying that being an adult is hard. I agreed. He then added how much harder it was to be an adult man. I said tell me more. 

I learned that he had depression and anxiety. I learned that he didn't have a relationship with either of his parents. I learned that he was allergic to weed and had given up hard drugs in his teens. He showed me the places on his forearms where he used to make tiny cuts. I learned he was a cat dad of three and had quit his job to move in with his grandmother as her full-time caretaker. 

Now aside from being a cat 'dad,' none of these things, to me, were necessarily harder as an adult man. I'd argue, these things would be just as hard as an adult woman. So, I asked him, what did you mean when you said it's harder being an adult man?

He thought about it.

"I'm 32," he said. "I didn't think my life would be like this."

"Be like what?" I asked.

"So lonely."

He took a sip from his iced sugar latte.

"I'm 32."

"You're still very young my dude." I reassured. "So much in your life is still unknown."

He thought some more.

"I love my grandma. She took care of me as a kid. I don't mind taking care of her. But it's hard because she wants her independence and she gets mad at me when I tell her she can't do things. And the house we live in . . . my grandpa did the repairs, but he didn't do them right. There are holes in our ceiling and when it rains we have water in our house. The house is old and we need to move. But my grandma won't let us."

"Sounds like you want what's best for your grandma. And I get that. Would you say that you are a spiritual person?" I asked.

And then our conversation took off from there.

We talked about receiving healing energy from trees and water. We talked about grounding by walking barefoot on the earth. We talked about what we both agreed is a time of GREAT AWAKENING. He told me it was hard for him to make friends because people thought the things he said were weird. I asked him to tell me some of his weird things. I loved weird things. 

He told me that he has some connection with owls. I showed him the owl tattoo on my arm. His eyes widened. He immediately scrolled through his phone and showed me a photo of a white owl sitting on the doorstep of his grandmother's house. He told me there are two owls that perch outside his grandmother's house and when they talk it sounds like they are calling his name. I asked him what he thought it meant.

"I looked it up. Owls can be messengers for good but in my case, I think they're an omen."

I nodded. 

For me, owls symbolized wisdom, restraint, introspection.

"Why do you think they're omens?"

He sighed.

"They only show up when something bad is about to happen."

"Like when?"

"Like the night I got a DUI for driving down an access road the wrong way. The thing is, there was only one way to drive down that road. Or when my cousin and I were stupid teenagers and poured beer on the graves in a cemetery. That night, I heard the owl outside my window and the next day an animal skull was on the doorstep."

Now, that part was straight out of a horror film, but I was intrigued none the less. 

"There is definitely some sort of connection." I said. "Does any of that scare you?"

"No, not really. I mean we're all connected."

Greatest statement of all time. 

Baristas ending their shift waived bye to me and the bearded man. He knew all their names. He was a regular. I consider myself a regular at this spot too. But I'd never seen this bearded man before. 

I asked the bearded man if he would like to connect on social media. We exchanged Instagram handles and my jaw hit the floor when he told me his. SPIRIT_AWAKENINGS* 

*For the sake of privacy, I've changed his actual Instagram handle. 

Since I moved to Washington, all I've had are spirit awakenings. Deaths. Rebirths. 2024 has been one hell of a year to me.

Before the bearded man left, I told him something that helped me stay curious whenever life seemed pointless or unfair or senseless.

There are years that ask questions and years that give answers. 

"It sounds like we are both living a year of existential questions."

"Do you believe in synchronicity with numbers?" He asked.

"Like what?"

"Like 444 or 777 or 222?"

"Oh yeah. I definitely notice when I'm seeing multiples of the same number."

"Today I kept seeing 222." He said. "I left my house at 2:22p. My coffee points were 222 points. Do you know what 222 means?" He asked.

"Not off the top of my head."

"It means be open to receiving a message from someone or something."

He grabbed his nearly empty iced sugar latte.

 "I think you're my messenger." He said.

He fist bumped me and thanked me for talking to him and then he disappeared. Not literally but might as well have.