Life is Like a Box of Coins

“You have, especially in striking encounters with strangers, two outcomes, but never know which side of human character is going to come up…”heads” (everybody wins), “tails” (everybody loses).”

I had a most unusual day on what happened to be my birthday, and what turned out to be a lesson in human nature and the intricate balance between good and evil.

Started out with meeting two friends for breakfast and a catch-up at Spencer’s; one of my favourite spots. A very nice start to the day.

That afternoon I decided to take my dogs to their favourite Palm Springs park to let them run around and enjoy the big open space.

We were there for about one hour when all of a sudden the mood changed when a man showed up with an oversized dog, on a tight leash. Adele started to go up to the dog when the man yelled at me to get her away; which I did right away. He said to put my dogs on a leash. There was barely anyone at the park at this time and they weren’t bothering anyone. I continued to let them play away from the man and his dog. Then another man showed up out of nowhere and started shouting obscenities at me. Turns out these two men are a married couple and they wanted me to know that they are law-abiding citizens. They also wanted me to know that they considered me a stupid, f….ing “C” word – and they didn’t mean conservative. It became vile very quickly and they continued to scream and quite frankly, I didn’t know what they’d be capable of. They were clearly trying to create a disturbance out of nothing. A man with two children come to my defence and then that man also got verbally attacked. To the point where one of the verbally abusive men came too close for comfort. We ended up leaving the park. I put a non-emergency call to report the incident – just in case I come across them again. One man indicated that things could turn out quite badly and I don’t know exactly what he meant by that, except it didn’t make sense to stay.

Wow; excitement to my day that I will not forget.

That evening I walked to a nearby, very nice, dog-friendly restaurant on my own to celebrate my special day. I don’t believe in a birthday week or whole month as many here do; and I don’t go out of my way to alert people of my birthday because I think it makes them feel obligated. Of course after the fact, some tell me I should’ve mentioned it. Maybe, however; dining alone can be an enjoyable experience. There’s freedom of choice, no distractions and time to self-reflect. The people-watching can be great too.

Speaking of people-watching….an interesting group came in and sat down at the next outdoor table just as I was deciding what to order for dessert. Four people; a man with two beautiful doodle dogs, another man and two women; all unrelated to each other as it turns out. Three out of four of them were married but their partners were not with them at the restaurant. The men were friends, colleagues and periodontists. They were straight. The women were friends since high school.

The man with the dogs noticed my two dogs and asked it he could bring his dogs over to introduce them. I love Palm Springs so much for their dog friendly attitude. He came over with his two well-behaved female dogs (sisters as well) and then went back to his table. At which point he asked if I would join them. I declined at first but they all insisted. So I went over, really enjoyed their company and had my dessert with them. The women had already had their dinner in the restaurant and were on their way out when they met these two men who were on their way in to have dinner.

The men asked them to join them and offered to buy them a drink so they said sure. The women were from elsewhere, here visiting and staying at a the Rowan hotel downtown. One man was visiting from Chicago, the other lives here in town. They were all very fun and friendly. Turned out to be such an unexpected, pleasant evening with lots of laughs. When my bill came, the man with the dogs quickly picked it up and said it was his pleasure to take care of it.