I wrote a couple of years
ago about being a person who STOPS.
Stops for lemonade
stands. Stops for mariachi bands
practicing unexpectedly in parking lots.
Stops for wicker love seats left on the side of the road that just need
a little tender loving care and a new home.
I am happy to be a person
who stops. It feels like who I AM. It is an integral part of what makes me me.
And look, I am not staying
that ME is any better than anyone else.
It is just that I have been
reminded all day today how the rest of the world, at least the people who pass
the Big Yellow House, are not like me.
And I find it so strange.
It has been months since I
did a “front gate project” – a term I coined for “events” I plan and put up on
our front gate. (And it is literally now
GATE and not gateS, because we still only have one front gate since the
unfortunate “car runs into house” episode that happened last October…)
Anyway, I have been thinking
of this front gate project for about a month, and actually preparing it
for about 8 days. I got supplies. I hand painted 50 cards and 50 envelopes. I ironed the painted cards to make them nice
and crisp. I wrote 50 ideas/fortunes and
printed them on cards. I cut 50 pieces of pretty ribbon. I put treats/gifts/surprises in each
envelope. I hand painted papers and
printed signs on them explaining the project.
I translated one sign into Spanish to try and be more accessible to
passersby.
No one.
I don’t think it makes me sad,
as much as reminds me how different I must be from the majority of the
world.
I COULD NOT walk by that
display and not stop and explore. Literally,
I know that I physically could not. I would
be so curious, so excited, so engaged that I would stop my walk to read
and take an envelope. And then I would
go ring the doorbell and talk to the artist!
If I biked by, I would
park my bike in a heartbeat. I couldn’t
stand not knowing what I would’ve missed if I kept going.
And yes, even if I DROVE
by, I would turn at the next corner, park, and walk back. I would have to!
But NO ONE STOPS.
And it is not that people
haven’t NOTICED! Even as I have been
sitting here writing this a man stopped and read the signs, but didn’t take
an envelope… It baffles me!! I just know that I could never do that!!
Drivers have gotten honked
at today (we live at the stop lights) for staring at the display and not moving
fast enough when the light changed, and yet they didn’t pull over and get
involved. One biker MIGHT have taken one
this morning – she and her biking partner got stuck at the red light and they
read the signs. She stayed back longer
than he did, but I couldn’t see if she was willing to take part in the project.
I know of ONE PERSON
who got involved (and trust me, I have been peeking out the windows and working
on the front porch all day so I could see!!).
It was a very sweet woman who came over to pick something up I was
giving away in the local Buy Nothing group.
I saw her walk down the stairs to leave with her item, stop, read the
sign, and think. We had never met in
real life, only online. But she was
brave enough to walk back up the stairs and ring the doorbell. And we
got to meet! And even talk and hug. It was terrific. She chose an envelope and when she opened it
said that her “fortune” was something she had been thinking about. See –
it is worth being a person who stops!!
Anyway, I wasn’t going to
write about this until after the project was over. I want people to find it ORGANICALLY by
happening upon it, not because I “advertised” it, you know? But I just have been thinking so much about
it that I decided to share tonight.
I think there are still 48
envelopes waiting to be discovered.
48 treats. 48 fortunes.
48 ribbons.
But more than that, far
more than that, 48 chances to stop.
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