the prophet
i know my blog gets overly sappy sometimes, deal with it.
last thursday, on my last visit to long wharf on a lunch break, i was doing what i always do; sitting, watching the planes coming and going, boats, people, ducks, baby jellyfish and so on. this guy and his woman (no idea if they were married and he probably would have referred to her as his woman, so im going with his supposed wording here) lean on the rail next to me and start talking. i try to not pay too much attention to anyone but this guy was kind of funny. to set the scene a little better, this guy probably owned a couple harley's in his lifetime, probably listens to 70's rock, had definitely been arrested a few times, long hair in a ponytail. he is saying to his woman how clean the water looks now, as opposed to 20 years ago when it was just black and you couldnt see more than a foot deep. that caught my attention. i spaced out again. then i hear him say:
"unless this guy is a cop."
granted i had the ray-bans on, but im not a cop. i politely laugh and say no, no, im not a cop. then i realized why he needed to ask. he is packin his bowl right there on long wharf. hey man, do your thing. so he takes a few hits off the the bowl. his woman wanders off so we start talking. i just ask him about the water and what he said about it being clean. we chat just for a few minutes and then she comes back. he asks her if she found what she was looking for (i assume some type o' drug) and she says no, she didnt. he puts his arm around her and says "well lets see if we can go find it."
as he turns to leave he looks and casually says "hey buddy, have a nice life." and then he walks and is gone. i was sitting there completely dumbfounded.
im sure we've all heard that used in a negative connotation before, have a nice life. he meant it in a nice way though. he knows he'll never see me again. have a nice life. it was so profound.
get ready for sappy sentimental crap.
he walks off, i look back out the water, saying to myself over and over again, have a nice life. it was so finite. i dont know why it hit me so hard, but it highlighted that you, i, we, all have this one shot to do something great. as im delving into this train of thought, a plane flies low overhead departing logan. i watched it peel off to the east, all the noise in my head stopped, and smiled to myself and said, "yeah. i think i will."
i got up, opted to listen to the city on more time instead of radiohead or hendrix, whatever the ipod had in store. the ropes on the masts of the boats in the harbor clanked, a jet roared overhead, a truck was backing up somewhere, people talking, sirens blaring, two ducks flew low overhead quacking. i turned a corner, past a restaurant and heard "love dont play, any games on me anymore"...they were playing ryan adams. it was perfect.
"hey buddy, have a nice life."
sure thing.
last thursday, on my last visit to long wharf on a lunch break, i was doing what i always do; sitting, watching the planes coming and going, boats, people, ducks, baby jellyfish and so on. this guy and his woman (no idea if they were married and he probably would have referred to her as his woman, so im going with his supposed wording here) lean on the rail next to me and start talking. i try to not pay too much attention to anyone but this guy was kind of funny. to set the scene a little better, this guy probably owned a couple harley's in his lifetime, probably listens to 70's rock, had definitely been arrested a few times, long hair in a ponytail. he is saying to his woman how clean the water looks now, as opposed to 20 years ago when it was just black and you couldnt see more than a foot deep. that caught my attention. i spaced out again. then i hear him say:
"unless this guy is a cop."
granted i had the ray-bans on, but im not a cop. i politely laugh and say no, no, im not a cop. then i realized why he needed to ask. he is packin his bowl right there on long wharf. hey man, do your thing. so he takes a few hits off the the bowl. his woman wanders off so we start talking. i just ask him about the water and what he said about it being clean. we chat just for a few minutes and then she comes back. he asks her if she found what she was looking for (i assume some type o' drug) and she says no, she didnt. he puts his arm around her and says "well lets see if we can go find it."
as he turns to leave he looks and casually says "hey buddy, have a nice life." and then he walks and is gone. i was sitting there completely dumbfounded.
im sure we've all heard that used in a negative connotation before, have a nice life. he meant it in a nice way though. he knows he'll never see me again. have a nice life. it was so profound.
get ready for sappy sentimental crap.
he walks off, i look back out the water, saying to myself over and over again, have a nice life. it was so finite. i dont know why it hit me so hard, but it highlighted that you, i, we, all have this one shot to do something great. as im delving into this train of thought, a plane flies low overhead departing logan. i watched it peel off to the east, all the noise in my head stopped, and smiled to myself and said, "yeah. i think i will."
i got up, opted to listen to the city on more time instead of radiohead or hendrix, whatever the ipod had in store. the ropes on the masts of the boats in the harbor clanked, a jet roared overhead, a truck was backing up somewhere, people talking, sirens blaring, two ducks flew low overhead quacking. i turned a corner, past a restaurant and heard "love dont play, any games on me anymore"...they were playing ryan adams. it was perfect.
"hey buddy, have a nice life."
sure thing.
posted by Chris Porter at 9:13 PM
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