This morning, even though my mind was in a shambles, I drove down to the convenience store in the other direction. An older man I hadn’t seen in a while was working. I got my soda and a sandwich and said l, “Hey, it’s nice to see you. It’s been a while.” He smiled and said, “Thank you I’m glad to be back.” And then he told me that he had a quadruple bypass. When he said it, I did notice I could see the top of the angry scar at his neckline. After I checked out, a couple of women came in. Even though it was not quite four in the morning, they said the same thing I did. It was his first day back on the job on the midnight shift. I felt so badly for him, having to come back to a job on the night shift after such a terror. We swapped stories about waking up with the nasogastric tube making us feel like we were choking to death. The two ladies listened and told him they were glad he was back. I love accidental encounters with people. So many people have huge obstacles they have to deal with. And for him? Facing death but yet still getting up to go to work and being nice to everyone he meets. Though I had talked to him before, it was never really anything other than superficial and perfunctory. Love, X
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