Inspired by Alphonse
Humans often welcome
what they can already imagine.
They prepare.
They make room.
They think ahead
about what may come.
Even “expecting the unexpected”
can become a subtle way
of trying to stay prepared.
But the truly unexpected
does not enter through planning.
It enters through openness.
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To welcome in the usual human way
is often to prepare for what can be pictured.
A guest.
A meeting.
A possibility.
A change.
The room is arranged.
The mind gets ready.
Attention moves toward what may arrive.
There is care in that.
And often love.
But the unexpected
does not ask to be foreseen.
It asks for availability.
Not readiness in the mental sense,
but a little more space
than the mind usually allows.
Then something unforeseen
has room to arrive
without being pulled too quickly
back into the known.
Alphonse arrives differently.
He does not prepare the room.
He opens a window.
He arrives sideways.
With a glint.
With a playful disturbance
of certainty.
Not to unsettle,
but to invite adventure
beyond control.
Not every surprise is grand.
Often it is small.
A turn in perception.
A sudden softness.
An unplanned opening.
A moment that asks nothing
but your presence.
Welcoming the unexpected
is not about expecting more.
It is about becoming a little less occupied
with what should happen,
and a little more available
to what wishes to arrive.
Then life is no longer only managed.
It begins to speak.
And sometimes,
if you are very quiet,
you may notice
that the unexpected
was not against you at all.
It was simply waiting
for a little more space.