Chance Encounter

We met the nicest lady while riding the T from the TD Garden to Fenway Park yesterday. I can’t stop thinking about her.  I wish I had a photo.

She climbed on the T when it still wasn’t quite so full and took a seat kind of far away from us.  She caught my eye immediately.  She was a tiny little thing.  Maybe 5 feet tall…but I’m guessing still in the 4s.  She was dressed like Richard Simmons meets Punky Brewster and made me smile instantly.  There wasn’t a shade or hue of any color that she was wearing somewhere. She was rocking head phones and a fanny pack.  She had to be in her 70s.

The car got really full….and then started to empty out again.  As it did, she changed seats, and landed right next to one of my boys.  She immediately started to chat them up.  Not super familiar with riding the T and maybe a bit overwhelmed by it all, they were hesitant to offer more than one word answers at first.  But soon, even they, were under her spell.  She was equal parts quirky and charming.  A total breath of fresh air….and on a crowded T…that is a pretty big compliment.

Talking with the boys seemed to remind her of her own….and she was quickly telling us about them.  The youngest of which is now 43.  Exactly my age.  In the 10 minutes tops that we sat with her, we learned more than I know about some people who I have known for years.  I regret, that due to the noise on the subway, I missed key bits and pieces of what she said and found myself merely nodding and smiling. There were times when I could tell that she wanted more of a response, and I was sad that I couldn’t offer one.

What I could gather and hear was completely heartwarming…and a little bit “Cat’s in the Cradle”.  It made me smile and be sad all at the same time.

Grown children, birthday yesterday, one son can’t get time off, her husband used to know his boss years ago so she was able to arrange for him to not work yesterday, a special day together, something about Kentucky Fried Chicken, went to a place full of long ago Mother’s Day memories, should they invite the other children?, “no” someone will have complications, someone will have to be late, let’s just spend it together, a quick trip to Nantasket Beach, before they knew it 9 hours had gone by, his girlfriend had called several times, played games they used to play in the sand (I have to admit that image made me chuckle), how did it go by so fast, she feels like she woke up one morning and was old, there are years she is happy to not remember, yesterday was a great, great day.

It was time for us to get off and she smiled and said, “Boys, you be good to your mother.  Even when you think she is wrong, tell her she is right.  Mom, you try to be good too.  There’ll be times you know they’re wrong, but they need you to believe in them anyway.”

After we got off and were in the daylight of Kenmore Square, Thatcher said, “That lady was nice.  But, was she happy or sad?”   I told him I figured she was a little bit of both. I can’t stop thinking about her.