Today my husband and I drove to one of our favorite breakfast spots and picked a random table to down at. A few minutes later, an old man sat down at the table directly next to ours. He was eating alone and reading the newspaper but he kept glancing at Kris and I. After we finished our breakfast, Kris went to the front of the restaurant to pay for our food and I smiled at him. The old man caught my smile, glanced at my wedding ring and asked, "How long have you been married? I'm only asking because you look really happy."
I answered him and we chatted while I waited for Kris. When he came back, the old man added him to the conversation. Before we knew it, we were whisked into a beautiful conversation about love, miracles, faith, happiness and the joys of having a family. Talking to this man was so easy and we could tell by the look in his eyes and the smile on his face that he really appreciated that we took the time to talk to him.
He told us about many intimate, important aspects of his life, like the death of his son, the death of both of his wives and what he was passionate about. In return, we told him stories about our lives that we thought would make him smile. As we told him about our lives, the smile never left his face.
By the time that the conversation was over and it was time to leave, he thanked us for talking to him, thanked my husband for his service and said, "God bless you both." He walked away from that conversation with tears in the corner of his eyes and a huge smile lighting up his face.
It felt like he really needed to have that conversation and was grateful to have the chance to have it with people that were willing to listen. It felt so incredibly good to know that my husband and I had given him that happiness.
By just taking an hour of our time to talk to him, we made him feel good, which made us feel even better. This spontaneous conversation made me realize just how good it feels to make someone else happy, even if that person is a stranger. So as we walked out of that restaurant, Kris and I couldn't help but feel blessed to know that we were a part of that and we felt so incredibly lucky to have met him. It just goes to show that something as simple as talking to someone else can make a difference and that it's truly the little things in life that matter. We went into the restaurant for breakfast and left with a blessing and happiness that we couldn't have anticipated.
-Chelsea
