Walking with the Dinosaurs

There are days when you move off the beaten track, sometimes the result is amazing, sometimes horrible and other times you hardly notice the difference.  Today was one of those days for me.

I had figured that today would be a lost day, I had to take my car in for what I thought were repairs that would take some time and would be expensive, as I could not get an appointment earlier than noon I figured my day was shot.  So I admit that when I set off towards some fast food restaurants to get food after I dropped off my car I was not in the best of moods.

As I was walking a well dressed, elderly gentleman stopped me.  I could tell from his face that at some point in his life he had suffered a sever and disfiguring injury which appeared to have left him partially blind and made it hard for him to talk.  He asked me were a particular street was I told him I did not know, which was true.  He then asked me if I had 50 cents to spare for a bus token, I told him I did not have any which was not true.

I did not get far before guilt set in, what was 50 cents after all, I looked back and noticed that he was walking slowly with a limp and leaning heavily on a walking stick.  It did not take much time for me to catch up with him and press a dollar into his hand.  He seemed genuinely grateful and thanked me.

I kept walking towards an intersection, when I got to it I noticed a police car stopped waiting for the light to turn, the light had just turned green for him, yet he reversed a little and waved me past (there was nobody else in the intersection with him).  I was a little surprised but waved my thanks and crossed.  I now had to cross a wider road, but a similar thing happened, before the light turned for me, the only car in the intersection that had right of way over me, waved me across.

You have to understand, I live in Connecticut, the citizens of this state have many positive qualities, random acts of kindness (in my experience) are not unfortunately among them.  That this would happen twice in the span of a few minutes was rather surprising to me.  My surprise continued when as I finally reached my destination as I was heading towards the door a gentleman rushed to the door (not to go through it before me as was typical) but to open it asking "can I carry your bag for you?".  I was so surprised I nearly dropped said bag which contained my work computer.

Perhaps it was all a coincidence, very likely had I not given the person the money, perhaps all of this would have happened anyway.  Or perhaps all these people had seen that I had given the money and for that reason were more kindly disposed towards me.  I don't know and to be honest I don't care, it just felt nice.

I drove a couple of hours into Massachusetts to do some shopping at one of my favorite stores, on the way home I decided to go straight rather than take the turn off towards the highway.  I figured I would drive for a while and then turn around and go home.  It turns out that the road I was on actually ran alongside the highway heading south, the direction I was headed in but was a much more picturesque and pleasant drive.

On the way I passed a sign that said "Dinosaur Tracks", I had the time so I made a U-turn and went back to the area.  It was a tiny park near the river and close to the wall that supported the road was a flat rock surface on which were clearly visible several Dinosaur tracks.  It was one of those small mind blowing experiences where suddenly either the vastness of nature of the immenseness of time and the universe are right there for you to touch and feel.  As I looked down at the tracks made millions of years ago by something that had stood in the same place I was now standing I felt a sense of awe and timelessness.

Because these tracks were just there, out in the open as if they had been made a few months ago, and not behind glass, or in a museum somewhere, the feeling was much stronger and personal.  I was in essence 'walking with the dinosaurs'.

Sometimes moving off the beaten track has resulted in me getting lost, or being disappointed in what I found, or wasting time.  Today it was wonderful experience that reminded me of my more giving side, the kindness of others and the vastness of time.  Not bad for a day that I had written off as a 'lost' day :)

Anyhow, after that I kept on driving, ended up driving through a small town, finding a beautiful old warehouse that I took pictures of just before getting back on the highway much closer to home than I thought I would be.