Martin

I woke up with a cold in full onset mode.  The last thing I wanted to do was work out with Nick at 8 am, but that's just what I did.  I even did time on the elliptical machines.

I headed to Walmart and my mood was elevated when I got a huge hug from my Blaine. I admit, I shed a few tears.  He touches my heart!

As I was walking in to Hugo's to get a coffee at Caribou, a co-worker stopped her car and yelled, "Merry Christmas Sherry".  I hurried up and ran to give her a hug.  Once more, tears in my eyes.

But truly touching was my coffee partner.  I decided to sit at the high top table and watch the parking lot hustle and bustle.  An elderly man was sitting there cursing at his phone.  Apparently his son's phone calls were getting dropped.  He said, "all I want to know is if I'm supposed to go there tonight.  He never told me."

His name was Martin, he's a widower and 78 years old.  He has two sons, but one is an alcoholic and the other one has a wife who doesn't like him.  He said, "all I've ever done in life has been for my family".  We proceeded to talk about the current state of our country, religion and politics - which is weird because I make it a point to never discuss my views on those topics.  He was easy to talk to and readily shared his life story with me.  I lost an hour talking with him, but it was an hour well spent.

As I was leaving I reached out to shake his hand.  He took mine and said, "thank you, I as just wasting time."  I smiled and replied, "I was too...so thank YOU Martin"..then gave him a hug.  We both had tears in our eyes.

Merry Christmas, Martin