Dan S.

I would say I do have “Aha moments” when I look for them, so if you’re not actually thinking about it, it’s sort of hard to see because the world gets in your way. Everything is a distraction in a lot of ways so if you’re not actually looking for something, you won’t necessarily find it.

Just very recently I was on a street corner, in Portland. And there was a guy who pulled out a guitar and was busking, so he had his case open and he was looking for money, and he was playing some obscure songs; some I recognized, some I didn’t. And he was good. But there was a family, or maybe a couple of mothers and their daughters and they were just sort of standing, watching. And the daughters were maybe 4 or 5 and one of them was dancing like there was no tomorrow, and it was funny because other people were standing and being stoic, and watching, myself included, not really reacting to anything, just listening to the music in the background.

But this girl, the joy of the moment just captured her and, like the old saying she danced like no one was watching. And she was really representing the joy that everybody was experiencing from this very talented musician who just happened to set up shop on a street corner in Portland. So it was a really nice reminder that we don’t always have to be completely stoic about things. And there is a lot of small things that happen that really can be both very moving and very joyful. And I wasn’t expecting to see it. And I thought that was quite something.

That’s my “Aha moment.”