He didn’t ask for anything.

I said, “I apologize for any awkwardness. Would you like this?” It doesn’t matter what it was. You can use your imagination. 

He looked at me and smiled. “Thank you!”

We talked for a couple of minutes. As I walked away, he asked me to hold on a second. 

He fished something out of his pocket and held it out. I took it from him. It was a dollar coin, shiny and new.

“I’m not going to say I’m not going to take it because you want me to have it. What’s the story? I know there is one.” I asked him.

He hesitated. 

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. But I love good stories.”

He said, “I always carry three of these new coins. One for the past, one for the future, and one for the now. Even though they’re the same, I like to imagine I’m giving away the coin that is the past. Sometimes I have to spend them.” 

“Damn,” I said, surprised. “That is interesting.” And I meant it.

“If someone needs it, give it to them.” I was walking away when he said that. It made me temporarily mute, so I just nodded. 

PS Earlier in the morning, I had a similar moment with another man. Though he did not have much, he always took the time to take the little extra he had and walk it to one of the small parking lot food pantries in Fayetteville. If I were looking for the definition of a kind, charitable heart, it would be him.

The brooch is one I wore today. I loved telling people, “It’s a brooch to celebrate my new promotion to Dance Commander.” The responses varied, but all made the day a little more interesting.

Love, X

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