Yesterday as I was barreling down the interstate toward Erie, PA, cruise-control set, I noted an overpass up ahead. Just coming into view was an Amish horse and buggy. It was headed over the pass. As I contemplated the juxtaposition of my relatively high-powered car with the sprightly and quaint horse-and-buggy, I realized that I would probably reach the overpass at about the same time the buggy did.
Sure enough. In this wide-open Autumn scene, we were the only travelers in that portion of roadway at that time, on either thoroughfare. With fascination I observed our trajectories as they converged. As I passed directly under the horse and buggy, I glimpsed the horse’s dappled white belly!
There we were -- two travelers, headed in different directions to very different purposes (no doubt – I was headed to Erie to play a concert) at very different rates of speed and in two different modes of transportation, our paths literally crossing at one moment in time. (Though neither impeded the course of the other!)
What was the driver’s impression of my automobile as it rushed underneath? I’ve no idea. Perhaps nothing at all. Or perhaps he noted the coincidence in the same manner I did, assessing the contrast yet the connection between his pace, his experience of travel, and his lifestyle, and my own. I wonder.
(note: I almost titled this post "Synchronicity," although I don't think the event quite qualifies as a synchronicitous one)
