God is a Man Walking Down the Street Holding a Mechanical Mouse, or How Inspiration Can Be Found Anywhere

This morning began not unlike other mornings. I stood at the bus stop on Harvard Ave. and waited for the 66 bus to Harvard Square to meet a friend for coffee on my day off. As the flakes of snow from Boston's most recent bit of wintry weather began to fall, I stood with headphones stuck in my ears, mulling over everything I needed to do today. My mind was a maze of to-dos and budget lists.

After waiting for about 20 minutes and still standing there with no indication that the bus was coming any time soon, I glanced up from the book I was reading and saw a man with an unusually large smile for a New Englander barreling down the sidewalk with a mechanical toy mouse in his hand. He came up to me and the gentleman waiting beside me, stood still for a moment, and then proceeded to hold his palm out and press a button on the mouse which made it play an oldies tune. "Do you remember this one?" he asked me cheerily, as if I were one of his old buddies sharing stories about our past glory days. His delight at this strange device was contagious; everyone around us looked up from their phones or whatever objects were preoccupying their time at the moment and laughed--not to tease, but to share in his joy. 

I am continually surprised by strangers I encounter whose effervescence can't help but remind others of the joy that reveals itself in even the most mundane of life's experiences. In this world that is often so despairing, dreary, or weighed down, I often find myself in need of a wake-up call. This blog entry is dedicated to the man I encountered on the street today, who not only took me outside of myself, but did so with a smile. May we all find surprise in the midst of our day to day.