Just Show Up

Yesterday I went to my first fall market of the season.

By myself.

And you know what? I had a great time.

There was live music playing, food everywhere, rows and rows of vendors. Everything from handmade pottery, woodworking, crafts, and all sorts of things I absolutely did not need—but of course I had to stop and look at anyway.

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I did come home with some olive oil, because apparently this version of Ruthie Wanders is also becoming a woman who gets excited about good olive oil. 😂

But buying olive oil wasn't my favorite part of the day.

It was something I kept hearing.

As I was walking from booth to booth, I kept hearing the vendors talking about how they knew each other. One had met another vendor eight years ago at a market. Someone else had met a friend ten years ago because she sold her a peice of pottery.

I started thinking about that.

They had simply shown up one day.

They set up a booth. Started a conversation. Met the person next to them.

And years later, they were still part of each other's lives.

It reminded me that we really have no idea what might happen when we put ourselves out into the world.

I've been doing more things by myself lately. Sometimes that's easy. Sometimes it's not. There's still that little voice that can make you wonder whether everyone else came with somebody.

But yesterday I didn't feel alone.

I wandered. I listened to music.

I watched mules working in the field. I looked at beautiful pottery. I smelled food cooking over a fire. I talked to strangers. I bought olive oil.

Maybe that's part of what this season of my life is about. Just wandering. Either by myself or with others.

Somewhere between the music, the food trucks, the pottery and the olive oil, I realized something:

You never know who you'll meet, what you'll discover, or what might begin simply because you decided to show up.

So here's to fall markets.

Here's to wandering.

And here's to showing up—even when you're showing up by yourself.

Ruthie Wanders. 🍂