My Talk with a Stranger

In the United States today on average there are at least one hundred thousand people living on the streets. As I was out for a morning walk I looked over at a water fountain in a near by park to see a gentleman dipping a rag in the water and washing his face. I stopped for a minute as the sun was coming through the morning mist and as I looked over watching him he glanced my way a waved with a little grin on his face and in a ruffled voice said, "morning". I replied... good morning, are you trying to wash something out of your eyes?. He replied with a chuckle, Yep... sleep. It was then that I had a really good look at him and what seem to be a homeless person who was washing up in the park fountain.

Now the typical stereotype would think, this guy is missing a few cheerios in the bowl. So being a little curious to the man's reply of washing the sleep out of his eye's I asked him if he had been up all night? His reply was that he is up every night and has been for the past eight years. Well as like others across the nation I have been very judge mental of most of the homeless that I see. This in part due to the interstate folks we see all the time pan handling for cash like a 9 to 5 job and when their finished they go their way get into a very nice car and drive away.

Something just seemed a little different with this man who I'm sure his appearance made him look much older than he actually was. I asked the man if he lived near by and he replied, " brother it just depends on where I'm near by to". For some laugh just kinda popped right out of my mouth. I apologized to him for laughing and he said, you don't have to apologize brother, it's good to see someone laugh at something funny I said because generally they have only laugh to tell me to get a job or to take a bath. I told the guy I was sorry about that. His reply was "you didn't say it, they did". As I stood there I still had one curiosity that has more than once prov en to me how homeless someone actually is. The thought came to mind to ask him if he would like some breakfast. Generally this is where he would say no, but if you have some change that would be fine.
So I went with it and asked the man if he would like some breakfast. He said you know what I believe that would hit the spot. As I stood nibbling on some crow of my own I said well there is a diner around the corner if you want we can grab a bite there and it's on me. He let a little grin come across his face kinda like the one before from across the park and said "well if you insist".

As we walked around the corner and stepped into the diner he brushed off his clothes and tucked his shirt in as if it was a job interview. We sat down at a table and the waitress brought some water and asked if we knew what we wanted? I said coffee would be good for starters and the man looked up in agreement and said " coffee is always a good start ". So we sat there and ate breakfast and drank coffee and the man told me that he appreciated the jester. I finally got the nerve up and asked him what had happened to cause his situation.
He gave me a look which had a story written all over it.
He said forty one years ago I came home from the Army and married my high school sweetheart, we saved up and bought a house and she taught school while I worked at a cable factory. We had a great life and boy could she ever cook. We had rolled the idea around of having kids and she was pretty content with the kids she seen everyday... he chuckled. We traveled and man did we ever have a time sight seeing all over the place.

Every Saturday evening we would make a date and drive to a creek about 10 miles from the house and there we would have a picnic which was our first date. Well time went by and the years flew she retired from teaching and I had three years till my twenty was up at the factory and I was gonna retire and we were going to travel to some places that we had not seen yet. As the waitress refilled our coffee's he looked down into his cup playing with a napkin on the table he said, ten years ago she got a cancer that the doctors couldn't fix. We were in and out of hospitals for two years and bills started pouring in and later in the second year I lost my sweetheart to the cancer. Well as I tried to keep the bills caught up things begin to just cave in. The cable factory shut down and moved out of the country and my retirement plan went to the bills after our insurance run out and eventually I was to old to start a new career. So I had a little talk with my sweetheart one night down by the creek and I looked up in the sky and told her I didn't blame her and it wasn't her fault because she gave me the greatest years of my life , for that money could not buy it. I soon sold the house and paid off the doctor's and eventually help run out for me.

Eight years ago my life changed I sold everything I owned and paid everyone I owed. Once I was finished my sweetheart and I had a clean slate. No bills no debt and no regret.
I sit there in amazement as the man told his story and he looked up at me with that grin he had and said, " that's what life is all about brother, no regrets". He said people look at him as a bum or homeless but that he didn't mind that because he had lived a great life. Even if it don't end the way we want it to... he said. The best part was living it as long as we did.

I asked him if he had been back to the creek where they had their dates, he said " After my sweetheart passed I decided I would wait ". Because if what we have always believed is true, than our next date will be by a river that never runs dry. See brother, the man said, I'm not homeless, I looked at him strangely and ask what do you mean? He said, " I have a new home and my sweetheart well she's as beautiful as ever and her cancer is gone ". All I'm doing here is just waitin to be called home. It was at that moment that I seen it. He wasn't crazy or giving a feel sorry for me story. He was giving the experience of a life time. His current dream was reality and his current reality was just a state of mind.