Convergence

Convergence: the act of converging and especially moving toward union or uniformity…

I wrote the following in 2020. Since then, the idea and reality of convergence has only grown for me. First, let’s go back to 2020 and what I originally wrote on the subject.

Have you ever been driving down an empty road, not a car in sight? Then, you come to a left turn you need to make and a car suddenly appears coming the other way and you have to wait for it, before you can make your turn? Convergence.

I have experienced a lot of what I call convergence this year. Heck, 2020 could be considered a year of convergence! Let me give you several examples that have repeatedly happened to me of late.

I do a lot of bicycle riding on multi-use bike paths. Those paved paths that are a little wider than your typical car. Of late, it seems I have three or four convergence events on every ride. That empty road thing again. There is no one on the path and all of a sudden several people appear, walking. Then, there is a bike rider coming the other way and me heading towards them all. Of course, we all meet at exactly the same point and time on the path. I mean exactly! Invariably, one or more of us has to avoid the others so we don’t end up in a big convoluted mess. The only way to miss this convergence is to stop before it happens. I’ve found if I just slow down, the convergence still happens!

Another example, trying to turn my car around and another car shows up coming the other way along with a person walking their dog. No one or thing was around a second before but they all appeared as soon as I started to turn the car around.

If I had waited an extra minute, would they have shown up then?

The crazy part, it has gotten worse, much worse in the last month or two. Every time I ride a bike, drive a car, take a walk, whatever, one or more convergence events happens.

Why is this happening? Why now?

I’m not looking for an answer as I’m not sure there is one.

Maybe that is why years like 1968 and 2020 exist? Maybe it is convergence that causes years like these to happen. Where many, many bad things seem to happen all at once. In 1968 we had Apollo 8 go around the moon at Christmas, which “saved” 1968. But, I wonder, with convergence events increasing and no good news in site, what will the rest of 2020 bring? The end of democracy in the United States? Hundreds of thousands more deaths due to COVID? What?

I hope and I pray what comes, if it comes, is something that will “save” 2020.

As I reread that, I realized just how dark of a time 2020 was, at least for what I was experiencing. Things improved in 2021 and have continued to improve since!

But, convergence. It is still happening and it continues to expand or, maybe I just notice it more? Anyway, a few more examples of convergence events include: my bike, a cattle guard and a car coming in the opposite direction all meeting at the same time. No one else on the road. Grocery stores. Ever notice how everyone seems to be in the same aisle, at the same spot in the aisle, looking for the same thing you are? One minute before, the aisle was empty. Anyway, I’m sure you all can come up with examples of your own.

But, I’ve discovered there is yet another form of convergence, paying it forward. This, I think, is convergence of the present that will help others in the future. Maybe? In any event, the acts and convergence can be and usually are simple. At least in my experience. I’ll give you two examples that happened in one day for my wife and I. The story:

This past Labor Day weekend, we decided to drive to a nearby mountain town for the day. While driving there, as is our practice, we modified our plans and decided to grab a quick breakfast in the town and continue on to Great Sand Dunes National Park. I think I’ve mentioned in other posts that this is one of our favorite parks and happens to be only a couple of hours away.

We haven’t visited this park, in the summer, for many years so we were really looking forward to this visit. We knew it was going to be busy as this was the Sunday of Labor Day Weekend. As we visit National Parks on a semi regular basis, I wanted to pickup an America the Beautiful park pass as it saves money when visiting many parks, many times.

When we arrived at the gate there was only a short line of cars. We were soon at the gate house where I asked the Ranger if I could purchase the pass. They asked if I was prior military and I said I was even though I didn’t have any way to prove it. They talked to another Ranger and then gave us information on the park and another brochure on how to purchase an America the Beautiful pass with instructions on what I need to verify I am prior military. You see, as a veteran, the pass is free!

The pay it forward part is this. After giving us the information, they let us in the park for free and told us to enjoy our visit! In no way did they have to do this and by no means did we expect it. Not by a long shot! This was something that touched me deeply as it really hit me how much people appreciate veterans and what they have sacrificed for the country. Even if some of them, like myself, were never in a war zone.

We did enjoy our visit! We drove by the visitor center and the parking lot was full so we drove down by the campground and ended up driving through it as we had never stayed overnight in the park and had thus, never driven through the campground. It was bigger than we had thought and looked like a nice place to camp! Add it to the list!

From there we decided to drive back to the main parking lot to access the dunes and hike up into them a bit. This lot looked like it was going to be full as well as there were cars parked along the side of the road leading up to the lot. It was full be we happened on an empty space right at the edge of the dunes!

Since we hadn’t planned on doing much hiking that day, we didn’t have any water bottles or food with us so we ended up hiking only a half mile or so into the dunes. Still, a lot of fun to be on the sand again! We are still getting sand out of our shoes!

The dunes are one of my favorite places to photograph and I’ve included a few photos from several of our visits to the dunes over the years.

After we got off the dunes, we headed back to the visitor center where we were able to find a parking spot. They’ve rearranged things since our last visit and I think it may work a little better. It was nice to be here again as this visitor center holds a special place in our hearts! There are terrific views of the dunes at the visitor center and this park, along with all our National Parks, are highly recommended. Just remember to leave no trace!

We were getting hungry as we only had a light breakfast and it was now late afternoon. The nearest towns to the park are over 20 miles away so we decided to try a little restaurant at the entrance to the park. This is one of those camping store / restaurants that one finds around the National Parks and other beautiful places.

The restaurant was the typical mom and pop affair There was one, large group around several tables in the center of the room with other smaller groups around the perimeter tables. The person sitting us along with the other staff were all young Native Americans. We were seated at a table by a window with a great view of the dunes!

The menu included items from several ethnic groups. I chose a green chili smothered chicken burrito while my wife got the beef tocos. We both thought this was some of the best food we’ve ever had. The green chili was home made and delicious. We won’t even talk about the blackberry tea!

But, the group at the big table. Wow. What we overheard and saw was that they were rude and in some cases, downright mean to several of the staff. It was nice when they left, that’s for sure.

We found the staff great and kidded around with them and genuinely enjoyed ourselves! When we paid our bill at the counter, they told us that we had made their day as we were the nicest customers they had had that day and it had been a terrible day and we were their bright spot. This made our hearts melt as restaurant work is hard work, especially when the customers are jerks. We didn’t know we were doing anything special, we were just being us. We talked with them a little more and then headed to the car and headed home. We discussed that meal for most of the way home.

That was our turn to pay it forward and in our case, to not even know we were. Funny how sometimes paying it forward is just being kind and showing respect! The convergence part? We were in that restaurant at the exact time the staff needed a little shot of kindness in their day.

Convergence. It comes in many forms and comes often. Watch for it, especially when it comes at a moment where a little help or kindness for someone else can go a long way in their lives.