His Life Suddenly Looked Better; Glad, I Could Help….

It is that funky time of year in The Lou. The weather can’t decide if to be the perfect day or too hot with perspiration forming on the way to the car. Even the humidity is fluctuating from unnoticeable to unbearable. People are caught between summer and spring, between sunbathing and a light jacket, between opening the windows and turning on the AC.

It is the first time in three weeks, I will be at home all week, and I am kinda excited. I’ll have my own bed for a while. Plus, I will know all the TV channels and where the good restaurants are.

Yesterday, I went to lunch at the St. Louis Bread Company. Standing in line for my soup and apple, I happened to glance over to the man sitting nearest to the line. He was an older gentleman, as young as seventies maybe even as old as ninety. Confined to a wheelchair, he was eating lunch with his nurse-a man dressed in a track suit with Bluetooth technology in his ear. While the nurse put the trays away, the man took the time to look around. As I was loosing my tie, our eyes meet. He smiled, not at me, but at my action. Here I was a twenty-some guy grabbing a quick lunch, heading back into the office afterwards and expressing my hour-long freedom by loosing the tie. He smiled.

Sure, he might have been old. Sure, he might have a wheelchair. Sure, he might need a nurse more interested in the phone than his wellbeing. But he didn’t have to wear a tie anymore. He didn’t have to go into the office day after day. He was past that. He had the freedom to sit in bakery and watch the young come in hurried and frantic thinking of work more than they should. He could sit, watch and enjoy all the time he had in the day. He had earned it.