It was a rainy Tuesday in Seattle. I was driving my fifth ride of the night when a man in a gray hoodie slid into the back seat of my Uber and asked to go to a hospital.
He was quiet at first, just staring out the window.
Then out of nowhere, he asked, “Are you happy?”
Caught off guard, I said, “I don’t know. I dropped out of college. My parents don’t know. I’m driving Uber to survive. I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore.”
He didn’t offer pity. He said, “Every person you meet can either become a mirror or a door. You choose which one they are.”
He handed me a card. On it was a quote:
“Even if you’re lost, keep walking. The path will meet you.”
Then we reached the hospital. He smiled, tipped $100, and said, “You’re not lost. You’re in transit.”
I never saw him again.
But that conversation made me re-enroll in school two months later. I’ll graduate this spring—with a degree, a story, and a sense of direction that started in the back of my car.