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I had an experience yesterday evening that I'm very hesitant to share, but it was so random and incredible that it's hard to keep to myself.
I was on my way to the Red Line after work, in a bit of a hurry to get to the South Loop, where I was due to meet up with my friend Trish. I took my usual shortcut through the Nordstrom building, which, in case you don't know, has a stairwell and mini-batcave that leads down to Grand Avenue (Michigan Ave. is elevated above Grand).
When I stepped through the batcave exit, I had to stop for a minute to open my umbrella. As I was fumbling to get it open, I looked toward the curb and saw a neatly dressed, dark-skinned man. We made eye contact, and he smiled at me with great warmth. Then he said something that I couldn't quite make out over the traffic, so I asked him to repeat himself. I figured he was a tourist trying to ask for directions.
Imagine my surprise when he said, "You have a very beautiful energy."
"I'm sorry?" I said.
"You have a very beautiful energy," he said again. "I can see people's auras and yours has a very wonderful light."
In any other instance this would have put my bullshit detector on red alert, but there was something about this man that was very non-threatening and sincere. He stepped closer, explaining that he was a yogi, that he makes it his business to travel around studying people's energies.
People with that sort of spirituality really intrigue me, so I stuck around to hear him out.
He said something about how he could tell that I was highly intelligent, and also very independent. Both true, but I still felt I should take his assessment with a grain of salt, since they were fairly generic descriptions.
"Those are your good qualities, but do you mind if I tell one of your not-so-good qualities?" he asked.
I said sure.
"You don't always think positively about yourself, this is something that brings you problems," he said.
I nodded. Again, this was something that could be true of anybody, but he said it with a sense of concern, as if he actually believed it and wished it wasn't so.
The man went on in a very reassuring tone. "I can see that in July or August, you can expect something that will bring you great happiness. Very great happiness. Are you single?"
I nodded again, making sure to catch myself before I inadvertently fed him any information that might be exploited.
He looked in my eyes, and said, quite knowingly, "Your first love is broken."
This was the moment that really touched me. I couldn't believe he'd hit my situation right on the fucking head without my ever mentioning that yes, as a matter of fact, things had indeed gone wrong with not only my first, but my only love.
Once I corroborated his statement, he went on. "Soon you will meet a beautiful man. He will bring you great happiness. I will show you something."
He pulled out a small yellow pad of paper, and quickly scribbled something on the top sheet. He tore it off, balled it up tight, and handed it to me. Then, with his pen poised, he asked, "Aside from green and black (I was wearing a plain black top under my green hoodie) what is your favorite color?"
I told him blue. He wrote it down.
Below that, he wrote the numbers 2, 3, and 4.
"Tell me which number to eliminate," he said.
I picked 4. He crossed it out.
"Okay, eliminate one more."
I picked 2. He crossed it out, leaving 3 as the sole survivor.
"Now look at the paper." he said.
It was balled very tight, so I had to tuck my umbrella under my arm in order to have both hands free to open it. I smoothed out the yellow paper, and written quite unmistakably, was the word Blue above the number 3.
Part of me still wanted to be skeptical, wanted to figure out what sort of trick he deployed to pull this off, but the other part, the one desperate to believe that there is indeed wonder and magic in the world, told mistrustful Jenny to fuck off.
"It matches!" I exclaimed.
The man instructed me to place the matching paper in his billfold/notepad holder. "Now you see that I know things. In July or August you will find great happiness. You must start thinking more positively about yourself, and good things will come to you. You will meet a beautiful man."
I thanked him for this good advice, and very politely, he asked if he might request something for his travels. It was a soft sell, and he'd given me enough of an ego boost that I felt he earned it. Luckily I had cash for once, and even better, smaller bills. I wasn't sure how much to offer, so I started off with five.
He paused. "Would it be possible to do ten?"
I recalled getting a really shitty tarot reading for that much back in high school, and this seemed like a bargain in comparison, so I agreed. He looked down at the crumbled yellow sheet of paper while I searched my wallet for the second five, softly asking for blessings on my behalf.
When we completed our transaction, he looked right at me and said, "You'll remember my face?"
"Absolutely!" I said, and we shook hands before parting ways.
I realize that admitting all of this could make you think I'm the world's biggest sucker, and maybe I'll agree with you if July and August roll around without anything eventful happening, but until then I have to believe that there was something wonderful about this encounter. If nothing else, I walked away with a bit of positive reinforcement, and some marching orders to get my head in a better place.
Not bad for ten bucks, methinks.
I was on my way to the Red Line after work, in a bit of a hurry to get to the South Loop, where I was due to meet up with my friend Trish. I took my usual shortcut through the Nordstrom building, which, in case you don't know, has a stairwell and mini-batcave that leads down to Grand Avenue (Michigan Ave. is elevated above Grand).
When I stepped through the batcave exit, I had to stop for a minute to open my umbrella. As I was fumbling to get it open, I looked toward the curb and saw a neatly dressed, dark-skinned man. We made eye contact, and he smiled at me with great warmth. Then he said something that I couldn't quite make out over the traffic, so I asked him to repeat himself. I figured he was a tourist trying to ask for directions.
Imagine my surprise when he said, "You have a very beautiful energy."
"I'm sorry?" I said.
"You have a very beautiful energy," he said again. "I can see people's auras and yours has a very wonderful light."
In any other instance this would have put my bullshit detector on red alert, but there was something about this man that was very non-threatening and sincere. He stepped closer, explaining that he was a yogi, that he makes it his business to travel around studying people's energies.
People with that sort of spirituality really intrigue me, so I stuck around to hear him out.
He said something about how he could tell that I was highly intelligent, and also very independent. Both true, but I still felt I should take his assessment with a grain of salt, since they were fairly generic descriptions.
"Those are your good qualities, but do you mind if I tell one of your not-so-good qualities?" he asked.
I said sure.
"You don't always think positively about yourself, this is something that brings you problems," he said.
I nodded. Again, this was something that could be true of anybody, but he said it with a sense of concern, as if he actually believed it and wished it wasn't so.
The man went on in a very reassuring tone. "I can see that in July or August, you can expect something that will bring you great happiness. Very great happiness. Are you single?"
I nodded again, making sure to catch myself before I inadvertently fed him any information that might be exploited.
He looked in my eyes, and said, quite knowingly, "Your first love is broken."
This was the moment that really touched me. I couldn't believe he'd hit my situation right on the fucking head without my ever mentioning that yes, as a matter of fact, things had indeed gone wrong with not only my first, but my only love.
Once I corroborated his statement, he went on. "Soon you will meet a beautiful man. He will bring you great happiness. I will show you something."
He pulled out a small yellow pad of paper, and quickly scribbled something on the top sheet. He tore it off, balled it up tight, and handed it to me. Then, with his pen poised, he asked, "Aside from green and black (I was wearing a plain black top under my green hoodie) what is your favorite color?"
I told him blue. He wrote it down.
Below that, he wrote the numbers 2, 3, and 4.
"Tell me which number to eliminate," he said.
I picked 4. He crossed it out.
"Okay, eliminate one more."
I picked 2. He crossed it out, leaving 3 as the sole survivor.
"Now look at the paper." he said.
It was balled very tight, so I had to tuck my umbrella under my arm in order to have both hands free to open it. I smoothed out the yellow paper, and written quite unmistakably, was the word Blue above the number 3.
Part of me still wanted to be skeptical, wanted to figure out what sort of trick he deployed to pull this off, but the other part, the one desperate to believe that there is indeed wonder and magic in the world, told mistrustful Jenny to fuck off.
"It matches!" I exclaimed.
The man instructed me to place the matching paper in his billfold/notepad holder. "Now you see that I know things. In July or August you will find great happiness. You must start thinking more positively about yourself, and good things will come to you. You will meet a beautiful man."
I thanked him for this good advice, and very politely, he asked if he might request something for his travels. It was a soft sell, and he'd given me enough of an ego boost that I felt he earned it. Luckily I had cash for once, and even better, smaller bills. I wasn't sure how much to offer, so I started off with five.
He paused. "Would it be possible to do ten?"
I recalled getting a really shitty tarot reading for that much back in high school, and this seemed like a bargain in comparison, so I agreed. He looked down at the crumbled yellow sheet of paper while I searched my wallet for the second five, softly asking for blessings on my behalf.
When we completed our transaction, he looked right at me and said, "You'll remember my face?"
"Absolutely!" I said, and we shook hands before parting ways.
I realize that admitting all of this could make you think I'm the world's biggest sucker, and maybe I'll agree with you if July and August roll around without anything eventful happening, but until then I have to believe that there was something wonderful about this encounter. If nothing else, I walked away with a bit of positive reinforcement, and some marching orders to get my head in a better place.
Not bad for ten bucks, methinks.
