I meet the nicest people everywhere I go. Today, for instance, I took my car in for some routine service and since I was told it would take about an hour, decided to wait there at the shop instead of inconveniencing someone to pick me up and take me. Besides, I was just down the road from Target and I figured I could always stop in for a quick look afterwards.
To keep me occupied, I packed my knitting, my IPad, this week’s grocery adds and a book on Ignation Spirituality as well as two cheese sticks and an apple to tide me through lunch. Sounds like a lot of stuff to bring for an hour’s wait but this, as they say, was not my first rodeo, and as it turns out, the mechanic broke two of my lug nuts as he took off my tires for rotation. This resulted in a call to the local parts store and an additional wait for delivery. My one hour wait turned out to be three.
When I arrived there were already two men in the waiting area having a discussion about retirement. I pulled out my grocery adds and began to scan them for bargains. Every so often, I would dial into their dialog, peering over the top of the newspaper. Needless to say, it didn’t take long for me to find a way to impose myself into their conversation and we were off; finding all the many ways our life paths had criss-crossed each other. All of us, as it turns out, had not only had prior ties to the military, but all of us had lived in Denver, affiliated with Lawry Air Force Base. What are the odds? We talked about yesterday’s election, gun control laws and gun ownership, motorcycles, our pets and life in central Virginia. Even though we were strangers, it was as if we were just catching up instead of meeting for the first time.
As we talked, I knitted. The hours flew by. My scarf grew longer. One by one, my companions left. For a while I was alone. I ate my apple and cheese sticks. Then, another younger man came in and took a seat. Soon a conversation was born and we were trading stories.
All in all, it was a very good way to spend the day, or at least three hours of it.