Brighter and Brighter

The Strangest of Futures


So, this week, we're writing three short stories - projections about the future we see and the future we don't see.  Both may be coming.  Both may be amazing.


My Plan A

I've had a few jobs in my day.  Dishwasher (2x), Warehouseman,  Pool Boy (1 week), Mailman, Camp Counselor (3 summers), Commercial Cleaner, Librarian, Stay-up All Night Staff at a House for Troubled Teens, Pub Crawl Promoter (1 night), Public School Teacher, Hotel Front Deskman, Research Analyst, US Census Taker, Telemarketer (sort of), Educational Advisor, Bunker Hill Professor, Kids Yoga Teacher, Mentor, Program Director...

Therefore, with this type of history, and all of this wonderful service and experience, I'd like to retire soon.  Maybe ten years from now, when I'm 44 years old.

And in my sweet retirement, I plan to work.  But my jobs will be completely mine.  Completely fun.  Completely end of the line - dream jobs.  I'll know I've made it.

I will still be teaching a few college courses.

And I will own a double business.

One building.

On the first floor will be my coffee shop/cafe.

Above it, on the second floor, will be my little yoga studio.

I imagine it to be set in wooded area.  A little country, but maybe in the city.  Maybe up in Northern California.  That part will have to come to me.  Or I will stumble upon it at some point.

And in this future, the future of my design, I will be comfortable, financially.  Not particularly rich, but having no worries about money.  A graceful flow that's always just enough.

I will have a darling little family.  I once had a vision, where I was running with three daughters. That'd be nice.  And my wife... well, she'll be there, too.  Timelessly beautiful.  My very best friend.  My wife will sit in the coffee shop some days, where I can watch and admire her as she reads and writes.  So beautiful...

I will teach a few yoga classes during the week, but mostly spend my time in the coffee shop.  Roasting beans (for the bean club).  Serving customers.  Making the scene.  I'd like to make it a community space, where bands can play, people can perform.  Poets can come and read.

I might do special dinners on Thursday nights.  With wine.  I'm not sure.

This is my Plan A.  The future I'm moving towards (in my heart).

But then a twist...

The Plan A of my future may never happen.  I may never get to that little urban, country coffee shop yoga studio.  That may never come to be.

And that's ok.

Because maybe I don't get to retire so early.  Maybe things will happen, out of my control.  Maybe I'll be blindsided by a different path.

A few years down the road, there's a big shift.

My wife and I decide to take a trip to the Seychelles, off the eastern coast of Africa.  This is a trip we've been saving up for for years.  When we get there, it's a tropical island paradise.  We have a a trip of a lifetime, but during one of the last days, a major storm rips through the region.  A rough typhoon comes in the night, and it destroys the little village that we're staying in.  Luckily, we are alright, but he village is destroyed.  Devastated by the destruction, we decide to stay and help the villagers clear the debris.  We end up helping to a save a little girl trapped under her collapsed house.  At that moment, everything changes.

Plan B

The little girl that we rescued recovers in the local hospital, but her parents do not survive the storm.  My wife and I decide that we should adopt her.  It's a powerful moment of heart.

Back in the states, we have a hard time readjusting.  There is a new, burning desire in me to start doing something else.  Something new.  Something more helpful.

We decide to start fundraising for the storm victims.  The response is overwhelming.  We decide to start a little non-profit, with the mission to help educate refugees in Eastern Africa.  That little non-profit grows when we start to get national attention.  Eventually, it becomes a major NGO (non-governmental organization), and our mission expands.

Our organization begins to set up charter schools in Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia.  We end up moving our offices to Paris, where we can hop on a plane to the areas we serve.

All of sudden, I realize that this is not the life that I had in mind.  But I couldn't have planned things to go this way.  Circumstance took control for a moment.  What was really important to me had changed overnight, with one wild storm of events.

Life in Paris.  An organization with a major mission.  A daughter that we take in and love.

Sometimes, you just have to go where the universe needs you.

This week's poem: a free verse about the concept of grace - that good things are coming your way



of grace


I can feel it coming      
this gentle wind

and the things it carries

the gifts that are not yet seen
the joys that are not yet heard

but I don't know where it comes
from

where did this wind begin?

This soft force
between gravity
and rotation

that seems to love me
for no particular reason

simply because I am

simply because I have a heart

a heart with beat

a beat that moves

like a rattle that shakes
sending a vibration

like tiny waves
pushing outward, forward

gaining momentum as
they spread upon laughter
and light

as they curve around the trees
and curl through the valleys

as they join with others

to cast off, into the night
on some playful mission

going somewhere

oh...

oh wait, I get it now

now I see

now I see where this wind
came to be

I see now
how how it
all comes back

it all comes back to me