Did You Know the Universe Dispenses Extra-Special Yummies?

A predictable state of being is a coat that constricts over time, often remaining camouflaged beneath conscious awareness until it becomes suffocating. Then, you do eccentric things and people think you mad when you’re just an allegorical kitten with a bad case of the ‘zoomies.’ – The Dani Writer made up this quote 'heck-minutes' ago.

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Go to places where anything can happen. Not unsafe places and not all the time. Don’t plan every aspect of your journey. Stick to the essentials and leave space.

Why?

Here’s one example why…

I’d lived in England for well over a decade and never once considered going to Glastonbury. Even though it was relatively close by at the time. A good friend drove me for my first encounter, watched as my eyes drank in the light, joy, and mystery, and then berated me for dragging my behind to get there in the first place.

What could I say?

The grind hadn’t been easy, plus there are things that a brochure can’t quite capture.

I went for subsequent visits that I can still count on one hand.

Fourth visit in…

Hitherto named ‘Magic on the Sidewalk.’ Yes, the sidewalk.

I didn’t name all my visits (only this one) but I remember them still the same.

I’d arrived in the center of town when it called out rapturous out of nowhere. A quasi-mandala surrounded by quotes. It wouldn’t let me move. Convenient, as mesmerized, I didn’t want to.

Easy to identify sidewalk-chalk art but this had been taken to a level waaaay beyond anything I’d ever seen.

And how did some artist have ample patience, dexterity, focus, vision, insight, and time to complete this without possible interruptions?

Easy answer: Glastonbury, that’s why. (You really need to visit.)

We’re talking a pretty busy street, but not a single smudge evident as I circled it to read each quote.

A distinct low-level voice aimed in my direction. Insistent. I knew no one in Glastonbury but sure enough, this little brown-haired angel holding an adult hand was asking me something as not a soul was around me. She stood on the sidewalk further down the street, maybe 35 feet away, and didn’t look more than six or seven years old.

Much of what she said was inaudible, but above the traffic, I could decipher her question as to whether I was the artist of this masterpiece.

I shook my head no.

She had follow-up questions.

I felt a sudden unexpected shyness (an angel is talking to me…ME!) but it didn’t stop her. Nor did the sound distortion over her words from the cars and the generic noisy town bustle. She was effervescent curiosity seeking connection over this artistic majesty that she too had marveled over and by golly, she was gonna talk to someone who appreciated it like I did no matter what.

I softened. Leaned in a bit more.

It had to do with her easy effortless vibe. At how the conversation became more than the words used. The way it organically emerged to only her and me because her “adult” remained motionless, silent and awkward, not given an entry to this precious exchange. The serendipity of moments in bunches orchestrated by an Omniscient Universe with a flair for sweet spots. Purest connection across age, culture, ethnicity, and all the crappy things that divide human beings at the hands of human beings. The way she locked on to my presence and would not surrender it like she knew who I truly was beneath the skin I waltz around in although we’d never met in this life and ohhh, the ‘what ifs’ we’d never meet again.

I didn’t count the minutes, but at a certain point, sensing her grownup needed to be moving along, she made a grandstand of goodbyes to me with a smile, leaving me to the mandala-esc art and the type of warmth and light fused within my spirit I couldn’t explain if I tried.

The quote that spoke to me the most was that of Eckhart Tolle,

” You chose this life because you're strong enough to live it.”

I captured a picture from that angle (lead photo) but the context and backdrop surrounding it will last when digital pixels grind to megabit dust.

An artist whose name I did not know and had never seen, created a work of art on a stretch of sidewalk in a town that I would have dismissed, from which this unique encounter birthed in miraculous communion.

Please say “Wow” with me.

Can’t wait to get back to Glastonbury when the weather warms…

Wanna come with?

Thank you kindly for reliving this special memory with me! What a wondrous way the Universe has to deliver unexpected moments that we didn't even know we'd relish so much.

Truly an enjoyable entry for the Vocal Through the Lens Challenge! Yeah, alright Vocal, I had some fun with this one.

And whaddya know...my first entry into the Photography Community!