It's always a shock when a stranger makes eye contact with me. It reminds me I'm actually there and not just a ghost. People can see me and the comfort I find in that thought helps a lot, especially in those moments where I question my own existence and the reason why I should carry on.

Of course I won't notice 99% of the people I meet eyes with, there's just too many and most of the times it happens by chance, because we are both wandering with our gaze. Some other times, however, something special happens between me and that stranger: we look at each other and we both sustain the glance, even if it's just for a second; we keep looking, for we realize we have finally found one another. It's like we were meant to meet.
And what happens during our encounter who can tell? It's always different; it can be just a smile, of understanding or courtesy, it can be a few words spoken, a full conversation or the forging of a new relationship. Who knows!

It appears that most of these connections happen to me when I'm travelling, maybe because when I'm far from home I'm more in touch with myself and, therefore, more in touch with the world around me?
And I know I'm not making it a bigger deal than it actually is because I can read in other people's eyes the same realization, the same wonder and momentaneous surrender to the tides of the world.
Or maybe... who knows... I am making a huge deal about nothing and that may be because I feel lonely and I project my yearning for love and understanding onto strangers whom I will never get to know.

What I will admit, though, is this: that I hope to be the "stranger met in foreign lands" lurking in the back of somebody else's mind. And even though I could never know if that has ever happened or ever will, I am comforted by the thought that it might.
I hope to be a quiet, intimate, cosy memory kept secret not because of shame but because of the fragility of the magical connection made when our eyes met and our lips grew into a soft smile; a connection that would crumble if the thought is shared afterwards with others, a magic that would vanish at the sound of the first uttered word.

Remember my smile to you, dear stranger, for I will carry yours in my mind for evermore.