I wasn’t having a very good day on Friday. I don’t think I was having a bad day, especially as compared with some others. But it wasn’t a very good day. It was Friday morning and I was trying NOT to have the same roller coaster of feelings I’d had the day before.

Thursday was not a good day either. But unlike Friday I would go so far as to say it was a bad day. A bunch of small things went awry and I didn’t have the fortitude to push through with positivity. My therapist would tell me that it’s okay to give myself grace on a day like that. And yeah. I know it is. But giving myself grace doesn’t make me feel better. So walking would have to do.

I got up. I threw on some clothes and I headed out for a walk with my partner. We live in Portland so you can’t throw a rock without hitting a walking trail. We headed for my favorite trail nearby and walked and walked and walked. Toward the end of our walk when the good endorphins were working their magic and I was reluctantly happy I’d been walking a guy on a bike passed us going the opposite way. He looked at me and gleefully shouted something.

I was in a good mood at this point but I’m still an anxious mess so hearing a stranger shout something at me, and it was clearly at me, caused a current of fear and anxiety to ripple through me.

Because in addition to being an anxious mess, I’ve lost most of the hearing in my left ear. So it’s not always easy to tell what people are saying under the best of circumstances let alone in a rushed moment out in nature near a running creek. I stopped and breathed and looked up at my partner who quietly told me the passing biker had shouted.

Queen.

The panic and urgency quickly left my system. I’m a huge Queen fan too. I started wondering how he knew and then looked down to see the all-caps word “QUEEN” on my shirt. Of course.

We wandered home after that. I sat and drank some green tea. I journaled. I meditated. And then I went to my room and decided to tszuj up my look.

The thing is that biker who yelled Queen at me on the trail? He reminded me that there are things in the world that I love. And that my Queen shirt wasn’t just something to throw on to get a walk over with.

For the first time in as long as I can remember I decided to put together a cute little outfit just for me. Well for me and that biker because he obviously had great taste.

I swapped out my pants, put on a cute little cami, tucked in my t-shirt, put on earrings, and found one of my favorite flouncy coverups.

Voilà!

An outfit was formed. A smile crept over my face. And I felt cute. And I felt me. And I did not feel like crawling back into bed to close my eyes and wait for the day to end.

That biker shouting at me on the trail, though it frazzled me at the moment, turned out to be one of the best things that could have happened to me that day.

I’m trying to remember that. To stay on the alert for beautiful moments I don’t see coming. But also for more fabulous ways to style my Queen shirt.