Blue Wildflower…March 18

I met a most interesting man the other day as I was simply sitting in my car with the motor idling as I waited for a friend to run in a grocery store for some white grape juice. As some of you know Zelda, my 02 Mustang, sports a bumper sticker that has a reference to Louisiana. Well, an older gentleman, working at the grocery collecting carts approached my open window. He came from behind and startled me. He started our “conversation” with ………

“Louisiana! Baton Rouge! LSU Tigers!” The exclamation marks are necessary grammar nerds because he said this in an exclamatory manner.

What followed was a quick exchange where I named a city in Louisiana and he named their football team. He knew them all, even Lake Charles, responding correctly with McNeese Cowboys. This exchange lasted several minutes and then he wandered off to gather more carts.

Our meeting was so brief and yet so much fun. I realized he was a special man who enjoyed his job and life. Our chance encounter left me smiling.

A few days later I was gathered with friends and we were exchanging witty stories. Just as I took a breath to tell my tale my friend Mike begins his tale. Now Mike has been a live aboard here at Holiday Hill Marina for two winters. His home is down in Norfolk and he drives a car with Virginia plates. He told a story about an elderly man he chanced to meet in the Food Lion parking lot. This man simply started naming cities in Virginia and their football teams when he noticed those Virginia plates.

I have since discovered that this delightfully jovial man knows everything there is to know about college football and enjoys meeting people and sharing his vast knowledge. I was told that he is not able to live alone and still lives at home with his mother. She drives him to work each day and picks him up.

He is a treasure and I am reminded that each of us is special in our own way and I am thankful to have made his acquaintance.

“If you celebrate your differentness, the world will, too. It believes exactly what you tell it—through the words you use to describe yourself, the actions you take to care for yourself, and the choices you make to express yourself. Tell the world you are one-of-a-kind creation who came here to experience wonder and spread joy. Expect to be accommodated. ”

― Victoria Moran, Lit From Within: Tending Your Soul For Lifelong Beauty