The Right Time, The Right Place

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December 6

The Right Time, The Right Place

Walking down La Paz’s uneven streets with a bag of popcorn in hand, all I was thinking about was getting home and watching Batman. I felt a small hand on my hand. It was a young girl, maybe 11, begging for change. Actually, children fill the streets on weekends and sell candy and newspapers, beg, and shine shoes. I don’t like to give children money because I’m afraid they may be in an exploitative situation. As such, I didn’t give the girl money, but rather opened my bag of popcorn, thinking she would refuse.

Instead she reached in quickly and drew out as much popcorn as her small hands could fit. In the next 15 seconds, her 6 sisters and 1 brother also reached in. They had huge appreciative smiles, and like kids everywhere, playfully tugged at each others’ clothes and stumbled over one another for second hand-fulls. I gave the bag to the oldest girl to distribute. As I started to walk away, I found that I couldn’t.

I turned around and walked back towards the gang of kids. I said to them, “Let’s go eat.” They giggled with delight and crowded around me, bumping into my legs and timidly holding my hand. They decided they wanted to eat sausage with potato, a common street food. We crossed the street and I ordered eight plates.

I loved watching the kids wait for their food. They dared each other to touch the hot sides of the food stall and formed themselves into a line only to be broken by their rough housing. They would fall down laughing and get up again to get in line. When the food was ready we crossed the street and ate in a little plaza. The kids were so delighted, and so was I.

Sitting with the kids, I felt an incredible sense of gratitude that I was crossing that street, at that particular moment. Being able to give to them was a gift to me. Their complete innocence, abandon, and impartiality was amazing.  At that moment, it became clear to me that those characteristics are why children are so important. They are really empty vessels ready to be filled. And if the ingredients are right, they make a nation creative and strong.

I came home and thought about how essential timing is in life. Had those same kids approached me at a different moment, I don’t know if I would have done the same thing.  Or had I been elsewhere, I would have never had the chance to interact with them. I have been lucky to find so many right things at the right time. My goddaughter was baptized during the one year I lived in close proximity since 2003. It is amazing that her birth and baptism corresponded with that window in my life. In Dec 2005, on my way to Thailand, my grandfather passed away, and instead I went to Hawaii for his funeral. It was lucky that I didn’t go to Thailand because in Dec 2005, the tsunami took the lives of many. Again, Hawaii was the right time and the right place.  I applied for grad school in 2006, and actually got in. The next two years were amazing in terms of the lessons I learned and people I met. Had I applied just a year earlier, I don’t think I would have been accepted and my life would be completely different. In Japan, I was riding my bike looking for the grocery store. Tomoko, a good friend to this day, offered to show me the way. I was lucky that she just happened to be driving by when I needed help. I met Jen Loizeaux in Japan in summer 2003. We have been close friends since and it turns out that she even lives not far from where I lived during the past couple of years. Had I been in Japan at any other time, we would not have met. She subsequently introduced me to my wonderful boyfriend. Had we started dating at a different time, I don’t think it would have worked out.

What is the lesson to be learned by all of this? Well, for me the lesson is that for things to work out the situation and timing have to be right. Sometimes one is right, but the other isn’t. In this case, waiting is all I can do. Also, the word luck just isn’t adequate enough to properly explain how or why I have been in the right place at the time time so many times. Rather than lucky, I am blessed.

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