A SCENARIO (taking a leap)

     

       Of all the bad days I've had in my life, and there have been plenty, this one in particular, was bad. Although looking back on it now, I can't remember what made it so bad. I guess that's how it goes. It's bad up until that something good happens, and then you tend to forget the bad before. I was walking down the boardwalk on a summer night, I was alone, which made me stand out, even as I blended my way through the coupled up crowds. The sky was that shade of purple and orange, the kind of sunset that made you feel closer to the heavens. 
     I made my way up the pier to the very end, as if I needed to be as close to the edge as possible so that my physical surrounding matched my emotional mood. Standing alone amongst the waves, the whole world crashing and moving around me, and me standing still staring out into a future I had no way to reach. Yep, that was me. Drowning in an ocean of self pity and doubt. 
     "Beautiful isn't it"? The site of her took my breath away.
       Now you may think I'm exaggerating but I'm not. The waves seemed to rise higher like that scene out of the Little Mermaid. She was the right kind of cute. Welcoming, not intimidating, with her big sun hat and tank top, her flowing skirt and worn leather back pack. Her smile was as lovely as the sunset she aimed it at. 
     "Are you talking to me?", I asked, I hoped.
     "Yes, the sunset, it's beautiful right?"
      I stared at it once more, trying to focus on it and not her as if I could control myself. 
      "It is, it is very beautiful", I finally answered. "Haven't seen one this pretty in a while".
      "That's a shame", she said. She turned and looked right at me. "Seems you could use a few more sunsets in your life".
      "I think everybody could. But me especially I guess". Nice, way to be a loser.
     "So what's the problem?", she asked.
      The concern on her face was as real as if she knew me all my life. It was scary and comforting all at once. Hesitantly, I answered.
      "I just feel helpless you know? I'm trying to get out there, out there in the thick of it all and compete for my dreams, but I feel stuck. Stuck like this pier". 
        Shit. Was that too much too fast? Would she think I was a crazy person to unload on a stranger like that? I mean she did ask. I was dying for her to respond, but she just stood there, thinking it over.
       " I get that", she finally replied. " But if you are tired of being stuck on the pier, and the whole world you are waiting for is out there, then why don't you just jump into it.....take a leap of faith"?
       "It's not that easy".
       "Sure it is".
        She stepped up on the the top of the pier as people began to look around.
        "Whoa, hold on now, you can't just go jumping off piers", I said half scared and half excited.
        "You can't just wait for your destiny to come to you, you have to go to it, that's how it works. So jump already". 
        And with that, she leaped off the pier and out into the water. 
        "Holy shit"!
        Did I just cause her to jump? Is that murder? I peered over the edge just praying she popped back up out the water. And finally, she did. 
         "You're freaking crazy!", I yelled.
         " I know! Now jump!", she screamed back at me.
         I stood there, staring down at this beautiful stranger, this speckle in the water. People around me crowding around now, seeing what the commotion was all about. I looked off into the sunset as it was steadily getting lower and lower. Another day of standing still, of residing on the edge, watching the movers and shakers create their destiny and make waves in the world. I was safe here on the edge, I was solid. So I jumped.