water gift on BART

Yesterday, riding BART back to Berkeley from SF, I began to cough. The first cough caught me a bit off guard so I did not cover up the cough completely, although I did cough into my sleeve. The woman seated next to me pulled up her scarf, clearly doing so to avoid inhaling any germs my cough might have spread.

When I kept coughing, I did a better job of covering my cough. And I sat there considering whether I should tell the woman next to me that my cough was about a dry throat and that I didn't have any illness. 

I usually have a water bottle with me at all time. Yesterday I deliberately left my water bottle at home. I was doing a Rainbow Grocery run, which entails a heavy load on the trip home.  Sometimes I bring my shopping cart but, believing I was only going to buy Himalayan pink salt and oatmeal, I left the cart at home. And I left my water bottle at home.

By the time I was riding back to Berkeley, I had not had any water for a few hours. A dry cough resulted.

Suddenly the woman next to me offered me a 12 ounce bottle of water, the store-bought, prepacked kind.  I never buy such bottles of water. I use reusable water bottles. I happily accepted her offer, even joking, after my first sip, "I assume you don't want this back."

Then she and I struck up a conversation on health, health care and nutrition.  I think we got there because I said I had left my water bottle at home to make my Rainbow run. She had never heard of Rainbow and used to be a professional chef. She was reading a magazine about fine cooking on BART. When I told her about the amazing bulk department at Rainbow, and then listed the things I bought, seguing into a conversation about food, nutrition and the endless spices, grains, nuts, olives, etc sold bulk at Rainbow was natural.    I learned she has about as many health challenges as I do and at least as much, if not more, distrust of allopathic doctors. Like me, she figures out what she needs, tries to get her health needs met with food.

It was fun, comparing notes and finding out that although we have different health issues, we actually have about the same nutrition restrictions.

It was a pleasant chat on a long train ride from the Mission to downtown Berkeley.

I was caught up in the conversation so it wasn't until I was walking home from my BART stop that I wondered if that woman's being had picked up on my thoughts and energy in which I had sat there wondering if I should assure her that I was coughing because I needed water, that I was not coughing up flu virus or cold germs.

I think she did pick up on my energy, my vibration.

I am steadily amazed when people who seem so savvy to me about something as fundamental as nutrition yet they continue to buy cheap, bottled in plastic, water. Don't they care about plastic in oceans?! Haven't they heard of interbeing, a hot buzz word these days.

That water was great.

As often happens when I am on BART alone and I strike up an engaging conversation, I very nearly missed my stop. I leapt up just before the doors closed at my stop.

Then I stepped out to find a friend riding BART to Oakland.

It is fairly unusual for me to run into people I know. People who have lived in the same place all their lives don't understand how long it can take to knit the kind of community ties where one regularly runs into people they know.