It was nearly lunch on Thursday but I still had a song I heard early that morning at the gym in my mind. I whistled it while I shopped at Costco. I’m not a good whistler but I am okay. To be honest, I didn’t even realize I was whistling until a man pushing his cart past said “I can’t whistle at all. My kids can. My wife can whistle with her fingers like a New Yorker calling a cab. Me nothing.”
“I’m sure there’s a video on YouTube that could teach you,” I replied.
The man laughed and then for a good 5 minutes he began to tell me about his life. He was a retired bus driver. I told him he was too young to retire. He was 55. He made it clear he had a side hustle. He and his wife put 5 kids through college.(cash! not loans) He married his high school sweetheart. He told me he goes back to Mexico twice a year to see his 95 year old grandmother. She cannot see or hear much but she is all there. She has 70 grandchildren!
When we departed, I shook his hand and thanked him for sharing about his wonderful life. We exchanged names and he said “Que vaya con Dios!” as I pushed my car down the aisle. I nearly cried because I knew I was supposed to stand there and listen, and those words told me why.
Most of my day is spend telling stories, listening to stories or in silence. I cannot tell you how often these moments happen to me, when someone I do not know or barely know, shares a story from their life that blesses me in such a way.
I don’t like to use that word, blessed or blessing often. It has been overused. Often to the point that it now means nothing. Blessed is not a pumpkin spice latte or a cozy woolen sweater. It is a moment touched by God. When another human, made in the Image of God, the Imago Dei, shares a part of themselves with you.
Since I committed my life and time to storytelling, these moments happen often. I know I can get into myself, into my lists (see last week’s post), being productive or just plain selfish and self-absorbed. May I be stripped of that selfishness, so that I never miss the opportunity to hear a man from Yakima tell me about the beautiful life he built with his wife of 31. What a thing to celebrate!
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There is still space in my Poetry of Faith and Doubt Zoom November 11. I hope you will join us.
https://stplacid.org/programs/2305/zoom-poetry-of-doubt-and-faith/
Listening is a shared gift between the giver and recipient where both parties get something.