Listen with Curiosity

What’s the  probability of meeting three delightfully interesting older gentlemen all sitting on one beach bench?

Apparently 100%.

With ocean winds continually changing the weather in a blink,I looped over my arm my essential thin jacket as I headed to the beach.

Water lapped quietly against the shoreline on a beach filled with grandparents with young children in tow, all turning over rocks to view crabs before they scurried away, or filling buckets of sand to design quickly crumbling sandcastles.

Overhearing their laughter, I spotted several recently created Inuksuk along a beach log, just in front of bench.
Balancing on pointed rocks,  I attempted to capture a photo. 

“Would you like a picture of you with them”

Turning to the voice, there sat three older gentlemen on the bench, all with broad smiles.

“No thanks. But, aren’t these Inuksuk amazing! OH, wait- Did you three make these? ”

” No, but we watched the engineering ten year old lad who did.”

“Oh how I wish I’d been here to watch his creative process. He’s balanced each individual rock ever so carefully, matching not only flat edges but pointed ones to build each sculpture.”

In shared awe, we looked at them.

Before long, one elegantly attired man graciously stood so I could sit with Dave, a ruggedly white bearded man whose demeanour suggested he just may play guitar in a band- oh, and he did- and beside him Dino, an Italian gentlemen with a welcoming smile and quiet questions about my life. Discussions of photography and interests headed into how they knew one another.

Surprisingly, they were from different areas only connected through their mutual interests in classical cars, and old school watches. The quest for a good watchmaker had eventually led them to sit on this beach bench.

After a time, the ocean winds shifted, bringing cooler air and Gino, attired in only thin plaid shorts and shirt, began to shiver.

Immediately, I grabbed my jacket .

“Please use this,” I said, as I quickly covered his shoulders, not with a jacket of shocking pink, ( too bad),  but satin black with a blue splash, thin but sufficient to ward his chill.

After an hour of talking , we all noted Gino’s renewed shivering, and they invited me to hot chocolate, at a place a short walk away.

While it is challenging to engage with three individually intriguing life stories in a cramped coffee booth, we managed until the friendly owner reluctantly informed us it was closing time.

Walking to my car with three gentlemen I’d met just two hours previously, I reflected on the ease of our connection.

But, really, it was the Inuksuk who had acted as our introduction.

Inuksuk means that which acts in the capacity of a human, and we human beings are not unlike rocks with multiple edges. Each one of us is an Inuksuk. In that coffee booth, we were building with care various facets and commonality, even as we  carefully turned pointed edges downward to listen with engagement and appreciation to each others’ interests and lives.

A delightful evening began with the serendipitous moment I admired and photographed a young boy’s amazing Inuksuk building skills.

It only became more when these gentlemen embraced being fully present humans to the woman who stepped into their field of vision.  

Living with curiosity simply means being present and open to unexpected glorious moments. I am grateful these men gifted me a shared human connection.

 May we meet again.