How Things Work Out

Sometimes, the chance randomness of life overwhelms me.

I was spending my afternoon in Riverside Park, reading in the sunshine. It was about 2pm, and I wanted to make sure I got back in time to pick up my packages from the Columbia package store, which my roommate Alisha had told me was open until 3 or 4pm. I had gathered my things and begun walking down the path back toward the 116th street exit when I noticed a roughly college-aged girl in a bikini top and cut off jeans shorts awkwardly wielding a football. The two boys on either side of her seemed to be teaching her how to throw it properly. Somewhat entertained, I paused to watch. However, as soon as she saw that she had a spectator, the girl grew even more self-conscious, which made the process take even longer. I tried to appear as though I was still walking, while glancing over my shoulder to see how she did, but she still hadn’t thrown the ball by the time I had maneivered several feet down the path. Finally, one of the boys looked up in my direction.

“Okay, hotshot,” he called. “Do you want to throw it?”

I was a bit shocked that he was talking to me, but now that I had been called out, I set down my backpack right there in the dirt and went over to them. I am not a football player, by any stretch of the imagination, by my throw didn’t tumble end-over-end and almost had a spiral to it. The two boys nodded in affirmation.

“Not bad,” judged the one who had called me over. “You’ve thrown before. I can tell.”

“Yeah, in someone’s back yard,” I tell him. It turns out his name is Tim and he is studying pre-law at Columbia. He and his friends are all taking summer classes, which is why they are here in June. I wouldn’t have stayed as long as I did, except that his friend had a boom box on their blanket, and all of a sudden a Michael Jackson song started playing. I spoke up that I loved Michael Jackson, and the look of surprised shock on Tim’s face opened the gate into our conversation about music that led to Usher’s new CD, which led to the dance class he and his friend just took, which led to my tap dancing history, which led to his invitation to salsa or tango dancing sometime (he and his friend are looking for partners), which led to my asking if they play volleyball, which led to what sports we each play….

The afternoon did eventually end when it started raining. Long story short, the package store was closed and I never did get my package. My other endeavor for the day was to go grocery shopping, but by the time I returned to my room and took a shower, I just didn’t feel like leaving again.

Eventually, by about 7:30pm, I had rounded up enough motivation to go out and find food for the first half of the week. I decided to go to Target, but then as I started out for the subway stop, I remembered that because it was a weekend, the subway ran express uptown, past the Columbia University stop. This meant that I would either have to wait for a bus or walk the 21 blocks to the next subway stop where I could catch it to 225th street. Because I am impatient and was annoyed with myself for being so lazy as to wait until 7:30pm to do anything productive with my day, I decided to walk.

As I started out, I remembered Tim having mentioned a grocery store existing at 125th street. He had said that the best way to find it was to go down Riverside Drive. Thus, since I would have to walk past 125th street to get to 137th street (where I needed to catch the subway to Target), I decided to try and find this grocery store. If all went well, I wouldn’t even have to go all the way to Target.

I did end up managing to find the grocery store, but once I did find it, I knew I’d never be able to navigate my way up to the main street where the 137th subway stop was. Thus, I would just have to do all of my grocery shopping at this store. I went inside and began scoping the place out. As I wandered up and down the aisles, I heard from behind me, “I love New York, too.” I didn’t realize that the man who had spoken was talking to me until he was standing in front of me, pointedly staring at me. I looked up and smiled, suddenly remember that I have a button on my backpack that says “I [heart] NY.” The man was still staring, though. Suddenly, he spoke again.

“Your shirt…. Do you go to the University of Rochester?”

I looked down. I was wearing a grey T-shirt I had won from a random raffle at a UR soccer game. Actually, I wasn’t even supposed to get a T-shirt, I was supposed to get a Wegman’s gift card, but at the last minute, they kept the gift card and gave me a T-shirt. I usually sleep in it, but that evening I had been too lazy to change.

“Actually I just graduated,” I told him.

“I’m a UR alum, too!” The man pulled out his keys and showed me a UR keychain with the crest on it. “I’m actually attending my 20-year reunion this October!”

It turns out he was in that grocery store to pick up some tangerine popsicles for the employees at his restaurant. “They are absolutely the best,” he raved about the popsicles. “You really should buy some.” I passed him on his way to the cash register and he actually opened one of the boxes and gave me a popsicle when I said I probably couldn’t buy any because they would melt before I could get back to my apartment. Then he wanted to give me a business card but couldn’t find one, so I let him write his e-mail address in the little notebook I unfailingly carry around. “If you ever need help with anything in the city,” he said, “just shoot me a line.”

So if I hadn’t stopped and thrown a football around in Riverside Park with a few strangers, I wouldn’t have heard about this grocery store. If the subway didn’t run express uptown on the weekends, I never would have gone to this grocery store. If I had taken that goofy “I [heart] NY” pin off of my backpack (because now, being in NYC, every tourist shop sells identical merchandise), I never would have caught that man’s attention. And if I hadn’t won a UR T-shirt in a raffle instead of a Wegman’s gift card and been lazy/unselfconscious enough to wear it that evening, he never would have known that I went to the University of Rochester.

Life can be so incredibly random sometimes!