I met a man today. His name is Larry. He was in line beside me at the coffee shop, waiting for a refill of decaf. He is old in the way that stoops the body and makes eyes cloudy, watering for no real obvious reason other than they have been in the sockets for so very long and have probably seen many things. Larry was dressed in that casual, sporty, old man way with dress pants, button-up shirt, shiny shoes, and a little cap like the jockeys wear in the Kentucky derby. I felt an urge to sink down beside him on a couch and watch an old Clark Gable movie, listening to his stories about the war and the Great Depression.
Larry stepped right up to me, too close really for someone you have just met, but I didn't mind. Perhaps when you are old and you can hear the clock ticking, you are less bound by the rules of personal space. Larry saw my sweaty clothes and asked what I had been doing. When I answered, "Exercising." He asked if I had been running through the forest. He once had a friend who when she was at Princeton would run through the forest to clear her head and think. I often trail run. I moved closer to Larry. I understood. It is so hard to clear the head and think.
He asked my name and told me that Emily was a lovely name. It made him think of Emily Dickenson. I smiled way down deep inside. Larry went on to say that he was meeting with a friend who started a foundation to help children get books. This foundation isn't donating books or collecting books, it is allowing children who maybe have never been in a bookstore or a library, choose a book of their very own liking for their very own keeping.
Larry said, "My friend has been very successful in business. Cash flow and wealth are important in the world, but that isn't where things end, that is really just where things begin." Larry went on to say that even when you have little else, you have hope and hope is enough.
So Larry was refilled with decaf and back to his friend and I was on with my day, refilled in spirit and grateful that no man is an island and that the world has people like Larry to hold the latern for those of us who follow on the path. Some of whom you might chance meet on a day like today in line for coffee.