Right Place, Right Time

I finished work just after 11pm--late, but not so surprising in the production of television. As I left to head home, I thought about a cab, but before I knew it, had headed to the bus stop. After all, how long a wait could it be? Practically the whole world is out in New York City at 11pm. There would have to be buses.
 
I quickly realized that the whole world out in New York City is mostly walking. Yet, as I registered the fact that I might have a long wait for a bus, I also registered what was happening as I waited. Across the street from the bus stop, behind cranes that are so common in the city that I hardly notice them, giant Christmas decorations began to appear on the facade of Macy's. Suddenly, a yellow mass inflated into a Spongebob wearing elf shoes. Moments later, elves and boxes of toys were hoisted up nearby. I'm not quite sure how long it took for the bus to come, because for some indeterminate amount of time, all I could do was enjoy being there, as one of those things that normally appear from out of nowhere materialized before my eyes.
 
Had I taken a taxi, I would surely have been home, perhaps even in bed, before I even got on my bus. Yet, to have been there, in on some secret middle of the night set-up, was worth the few lost moments of sleep. To have seen the group of people working late, climbing around a giant balloon, hoisting, and arranging, and doing whatever needed to be done to create this holiday setup that people would see for the first time tomorrow, made the cold and the tired and the "wish I'd been done earlier" fade away.
 
Sometimes, we think we're doing it all wrong--making the wrong choices, landing in the wrong situations, making the wrong use of our time. But sometimes, what seems to be wrong lands you in just the right place, at just the right time. When I walk past that corner today, there will be decorations that didn't exist yesterday. But I saw it happen. In the right place, at the right time.