Ferry Arrival

Beautiful BC Ferries

I love the ferry arrivals lounge.  The temporary inhabitants wait around with all manner of emotions carried in their body language and facial expressions.

One will be grasping a big bouquet of cheerful flowers, who are straining to present their most gleeful of faces to their recipient. 

Another may be wringing her hands in anticipation of a tearful reunion.  Was there a tragedy, and her emotions are on the brink of tumbling out the moment their eyes meet?  Or has it been so long the anticipation is coursing out to her extremities, barely contained within her skin.

Then there is the guy who would rather be anywhere else, pacing and glaring around, trying to talk himself into the necessary smile of greeting.

But the very best moments are when the arrivals door slams open and spews hurrying passengers, each with their own agenda, infusing the atmosphere with whirling individual dramas swirling about them, seeking out their matching, waiting people.

A small child may shoot out from the line, bounding into the arms of grandma. Squealing may erupt from both as their joy bursts about them.  I would look around and see the infectious smiles as this purity of love spreads its kisses far and wide.

I have seen and experienced meetings that tear me apart. Two devastated souls melting into each other's arms, sobbing their grief. For a split second time stops as the grievers re-start their hearts with each other's strength.  Painfully breathing in and out again, they will make their way through the crowd.  Life goes on.

But next may be a shriek of joy.  Someone will spot their person and all that contained patience will electrify the room.  Arms wide, bodies will clutch in perfectly fitted embrace, mutual glee wrapped up in their entwined grip and whole-body smiles.

I inhale those last emotions, borrowing them to use in future when I have a low moment.  They will remind me of the finer flashes in life; those oases between desert stretches of blah.  The arrivals lounge and its undercurrents is one of those secret stores of humanity, quite wasted unless you vicariously allow the moments into your own psyche. 

After all, aren’t we all as one in the human condition?