Chance Encounters

Why is a random or chance encounter more romantic than a planned or set up meeting? Is it due to the fact that we plan everything to the tee and know exactly where everybody is at all times? I’m not one to disparage dating/casual meeting apps, but even their power of the mutual opt in blind date cannot compare to the sheer madness of meeting a visage at 4 in the morning with absolutely no planning. Everything right has to happen. The time, space, and attitude must all be correct or else life goes on as planned. The chance encounter can be nothing more than a conversation, a wink, a smile, a kiss, or a brush of the arm but it still holds a power that cannot (for my words) be matched. When the random meeting happens, and is positive, it sets the mind and heart a flutter like nothing else. Do we (mainly me) put too much into the beauty of the doomed or failed encounter? I know I’ll never see these people again 99% of the time (the one time it did work, oh man was it a time and a half but then like all fables the clock struck 12 and that was it) but perhaps that’s the appeal. Our culture’s most famous love story is that of Romeo and Juliet. If that hasn’t set generations of lovers up for perpetual fail with its story of perfect love gone oh so wrong I don’t know what else could.

It may hit a nerve (the random encounter) because it fulfills the old question “do I dare disturb the universe”. Such a meeting (especially in these times of hyper connectivity) are not supposed to happen. You’re supposed to drift from point a to point b and not stray from the path. That’s a fine strategy because some paths are that good, but a detour, no matter how quick or ultimately meaningless, is always too powerful to resist. Different doesn’t always mean better but what if it did in this case? What if randomness became a positive and better than the path laid out? That would be a disturbing the universe moment indeed. Such is the magic of the random encounter. It disturbs the universe even if it is for a minute or two. Sometimes things need to be shaken up.

In conclusion, there is no greater thrill than finding a simpatico partner where you weren’t looking (or trying to look for one).

In further conclusion, I need to go to stop staying up so late.