Whenever I relocate, I am prepared to enter a manic state. This was the case during my final week in the UK. Even though I was over caffeinated, I was getting tasks done, all was well. I moved to Paris, and remained in that heightened state for a week. Yet, as the week passed, and the initial buzz decreased, my logic set in. I realized I had lost a credit card my last day in England. On checking my account, multiple charges were made in one day. I automatically cancelled the card, and refuted the charges. Luckily it wasn’t excessive, but I knew this only happened because I was in the “moving mind” and not my regular mind. I had compassion for myself at the moment.
The same day I realized, I had lost a rain cap somewhere when roaming the streets of Paris. I was not attached to this cap, and recognized it was not meant to be. My brother and I entered a café, for an afternoon oat latte. Although we were hoping to explore a new café in the Marais, we opted to return to one we had frequented the day before. We ordered our lattes, sat in the front of the shop, and as I stared at the register, I saw my black I had lost the day prior. It was waiting to be found. The barista staff at the café asked if I was searching for it and knew it would be there. “No, it was pure serendipity,” I responded.
This small find of a simple rain cap was comforting to me. The big city of Paris momentarily shrunk into a bite size town, which held familiar people and my hat. I couldn’t take away the fact that my credit card was stolen, and I had to await the charges that were disputed, but I could appreciate this moment. I found a piece of me in a café.
There’s such a large part of my heart that embraces experiences like this. They seem so minute in the grand scheme of things, but it’s refreshing to know there can be moments of joy in the midst of being overwhelmed.
“What people call serendipity sometimes is just having your eyes open.”- Jose Manuel Barroso
It Only Takes A Smile 