There has been this saying in my family, often used to describe a person who is tangential or circuitous. The phrase is usually offered in this manner, “I asked John for the time and he told me how to make a watch.” This particular trait can be problematic if one needs to make quick decisions and the watchmaker is part of the decision making process.
What I find truly lovely though is to have a close relationship with a watchmaker. If you are a thinker, if you like ideas and discourse, there can be nothing more delightful, than a person willing and able to engage is such a complex method. The dialogue can weave and traverse a large landscape, pulling in a wide array of topics that one would never connect. A watchmaker can also completely and methodically disassemble a problem to its most basic level….and the reassmeble it after shining and fixing each part. It is a lovely experience. To have someone that can go toe to toe in a rapid fire of a ping pong match of ideas or concepts is exciting. To have the leisurely, undirected, free-flowing discussion about something nebulous like denial or fear or dreams or love is a great treat. To create metaphors and allegories to explain the larger parts of life.
I have such a friend. I brilliant mind that processes at warp speed with a scathing blend of sarcasm and irony. The beauty is an equal measure of compassion and empathy. There is a near encyclopedia of knowledge. There are ready quotes from philosophers and poets. There is an understanding of strategy and science. There is an emotional intelligence as rare as a black pearl. And there is a brazen desire to know more, to understand deeper, to feel completely.
I am blessed by this friend. I count providence and serendipity as orchestrators of my connection to this person.
I have no understanding as to how such a dynamic is created. It seemed to form from the air. An affinity or aggregation of many things, like magnetic shavings in a Etch-A-Sketch. I doubt the ability to replicate or expand. It is a dance, a duet. And for this gift, I give many thanks. =Q=