Clandestine Confessions

I stepped into the Planet Fitness in Tucson, Arizona.
I was simply there for one thing: a shower.
Dirty and sweaty from having just walked the most random trail to see the sunrise in a sea of cactus in which I got lost, scratched up my legs, and accumulated nearly fifty bug bites all over my body.
I write that with a huge smile because it was a joy; all of it.
It became one of my most memorable moments of the trip.
I am not getting out of this life alive so live it to the fullest for as long as I can.
–
It was a full circle moment.
This was how the seed was planted for the tree that is my cross country road trip to exist.
–
It was a Sunday afternoon working at the gym.
I was venting to my coworker/friend about the lack of men in this world who have a zest for life.
Spontaneous and free.
Unrestrained by the need to adhere to the predictability of living so many get trapped in.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw a small black convertible drive by.
A bike hooked onto the back.
“Cute car,” I said. “What are the odds a cute guy is in it?”
He got out of the car and walked to the gym doors.
Slow motion movie moment of him moving his sunglasses to the top of his head.
His blonde hair blown slightly to the side by the wind.
(Luck was on my side.)
“I’m just here for a shower. Don’t judge,” he said with a smile as he scanned in.
“It is Planet Fitness. It would be against the rules,” I replied. A slight laugh at the end.
–
My coworker gave me the look.
We all had one for each other – the “go for it” signal.
About 15 minutes passed before he returned to the desk.
“What is a good place to grab a burger around here? Looking to grab a decent meal before getting back on the road.”
“Where are you headed?” I asked, my intrigue rapidly growing in this stranger the more he spoke.
“Home. This is my last stop on my cross country road trip.”
–
And so began a forty-five minute long conversation about the how, the why, the where of his journey.
Worn down by the monotony of the 9-5 grind, he dropped everything to be on the road for a month. To experience the more to living he knew existed.
“Time does not work in our favor. We sit and wait for our chances to come alive to find us, but time doesn’t stop in the interim. It passes regardless. It’s how we lose our lives to regret and complacency. At some point we have to realize we need to create the opportunities ourselves. Which is how this trip came to be.”
–
We exchanged numbers.
He invited me to join him for the burger after my shift; an offer I unfortunately had to decline as I was scheduled to leave for a business trip to DC immediately after clocking out.
Ultimately, I headed north. Whatever this could become headed south not too long after.
But the impact of the encounter did not go anywhere.
I walked away with the determination that either I would find that or I would become it.
An independent, confidently alive version of me standing in a Planet Fitness across the country the evidence of which route I chose (for now, at least).
–
One chance meeting is sometimes all it takes to change the trajectory of a life.
We all hold the potential to begin a butterfly effect – if we are courageous enough to speak our yes to life.
Somebody’s yes offered him his.
His yes offered me mine.
And I would love to think my yes presented somebody theirs.
That it imparted a radical boldness in another to keep fear from halting the impact.
That the reverberations of one’s promise to living alive will never see an end.
And that one by one this whole world will wake up to the beauty that is having breath in your lungs.