Something About My Face?

So last night Keith and I drove to McLean, Virginia. We were going to a tsog with Ralo Rinpoche's Taiwanese sangha. I was pretty grumpy as I hate racing home from work, gobbling dinner and then driving in traffic (while Keith studies in the passenger seat) to get there by 7:30.

So we'd arrived and made our usual stop at some grocery store I don't know the name of. As usual, I'd gone in to get something to bring for the feast we have at the end of the night. As usual, I was wearing my white shantab and was receiving lots of stares from kids and adults which I pretended to ignore.

I chose some tiny sticky looking donuts and stood in line. While waiting for my turn, I vaguely noticed that the cashier was an older asian man and exuded a really nice calm feeling. And then it was my turn and we said hi and I told him I didn't need a bag. I was noticing that his name tag said DOI and thinking that sounded like a Vitenamese name when he said, "There's something about your face....I can't explain," in heavily accented English. "Oh!" I sort of chuckled.

"Are you still in school? Are you working?" he hurriedly asked. "I just graduated..." I gleefully replied. "I see you are going to have a very good future..." he said oh-so-mysteriously. And goosebumps rose over me. "I hope so!" I laughed. "Yes, I see this," he said. "God bless you, have a wonderful night..." "You too," I said...

And he wasn't strange or creepy. I'm really not one to believe in fortune tellers. Like when my friend Sal who's going through a divorce insisted he had to stop and talk to the gypsy looking lady on the sidewalk in DC (and pay her money). But this felt different. He seemed so sweet and peaceful and true. Maybe I just want it to be true. I want it to be some sort of auspicious sign.

But I can't stop thinking about it. What did he see in my face? And what would "a very good future" mean anyway? Right now, I'm not sure what that would even look like to me. What would make me happy? Would it mean I get a book deal and somehow make enough money to pay off all my student loans? Would it be that I have a baby who makes me unbelievably happy? Is it that in the future I'll be able to live half in America/half in Asia? Does it mean that someday I'll become accomplished in Buddhism?

Keith said it must mean I'll be happy. And I'll take that. I'll more than take that.