Last night I called my best friend to catch up and find out when we would be having our next outdoor adventure. Instead I found out that his wife's mother had died suddenly and that he was spending the week in Colorado. The conversation was awkward for me, not finding the words he needed to hear and not having the ability to express my empathy. After the call, a flood of thoughts came to my mind on what I could have or should have or would have said if I had been more prepared for the news.
This morning I approached a co-worker and complimented him on his cool hat. It was a white baseball cap with a big red J. I thought it stood for J-Rod, which is his nickname. Instead he told me it stood for his brother Josh, who had passed away a just a few days ago. I had the chance to talk to him about his brother in a way that I wish I could have talked with my best friend about his wife's mother. I went away touched by the experience, hearing him talk about his brother, satisified that I had been able to say to him the things I wanted to say to my best friend.
Later on, I went to the office kitchen hoping to find some much needed coffee. Instead I found a watered down immitation being poured by a person unknown to me. This guy was obviously new in the office but I was able to strike up a conversation with him while waiting for my boss to make some real coffee. I learned some interesting things about his life as he told me about his background, hobbies, and family. I looked for a chance to tell him my name and ask him for his but never found it and walked away wondering why I was too clueless to make such a courteous gesture.
This evening while walking my dog down the street, I ran into another dog. He didn't look familiar. Another guy passed by on his bike and asked me if I knew where the dog belonged. I told him no after which he reminded me that we'd better find out because it's not right for a dog to be wandering the neighborhood like that. So we shewed the dog in a direction he seemed comfortable going and he ended up running into the yard of my neighbor 4 houses down. A friendly man greeted the dog and started to tell us that his dog liked to chew through his harness. I laughed and told him about how my dog can slip out of hers. His kids walked over and pet my dog and I found out their dog's name and shared with them my dog's name. Before parting, I introduced myself to the man, whom I didn't know, even though he is my neighbor, only 4 houses down. He told me his name and the names of his children and asked me where I lived. We both thought it was funny that he had lived there 2 years and I had lived here 4 years and we didn't know eachother until today.
It's not often when you get another chance twice in the same day...
