"There are no strangers, only friends you haven't yet met."

-Dalai Lama

I talk to strangers. Last night I was sitting in a bar with my friend when the man next to us tapped me on the shoulder and asked if he could buy us a shot of something. We shrugged and said "sure," and soon were in a deep congratulatory cheers to his new job. We spent the last 15 minutes hearing about his life, and how excited he was, and when it was time to go we parted ways fondly. He was a fifty-something year old man taking shots with two mid-twenty year old women (us) and there was absolutely nothing strange about it. 

We create our comfort. We have some beautifully intricate alarm systems wired into our DNA about situations that threaten our life, and if we can tap into these and trust that the universe is on our side, we end up in some incredible places. I met my most recent lover at the coffee shop I work at. We both casually walked over to the cream, sugar and newspaper station and struck up conversation. One thing led to another and next thing you know I am reading his horoscope. "Capricorn: today you will meet a cute girl and maybe go out for beer together," I said with some grandiose amount of confidence summoned from the heavens. He smirked and agreed to pick me up at six... he was no longer a stranger.

I wrote letters to a girl who I had met once, from Australia, for twelve years. Our friendship landed us in Spain, and then brought me to Australia a year later. Every friend starts out as a stranger. I often find myself in a deep state of wonder at how many different trajectories a life can travel on based on the person someone decided to say hello to that day. MY life is a series of introductions. I meet humans and want to know their story. Doesn't matter if its Julia Roberts, or the grocery store cashier.... I ask how a strangers day is going, and then jump right in to the questions that fill my heart space. 

"Where do you come from?" 

"Where is home?"

"Are you in love?"

"What do you do for work and what do you do with your free time?"

Granted these questions are often off-putting. Sometimes a stranger will retract back into their little shell and awkwardly hand you a very vague explanation of their heart. Sometimes the stranger will ignore you entirely. Usually though, if you approach a stranger with enough curiosity then they are going to want to get to know you. People love people who love them. If you show enough interest in someone.... genuine interest.... then they will inherently be more interested in you. 

I've met strangers who after one day have taken me into their homes to sleep for a night. Who have given me rides across states, helped with my laundry, and sat for hours over cups of coffee. I think this might be why the beginning stages of love are so interesting. When you meet someone who you have not known, and you are discovering your common interests, it seems nearly to have so much in common with this other human who has been cultivated in a different space than you. But as we get to know them we unravel who these people are in our lives, and if they play a role in our lives. 

Sometimes a stranger is for years, and sometimes they are for a minute. Each stranger plays a role in our lives, and each person carries a different story to share.  It is up to us to keep this world strange, and keep ourselves even stranger.