Thursday, June 7, 2012

Day 159: Share an ice-cream bar

Today was the first day of Thursday on First. In Rochester, this is a fun yearly festivity. It's great for people watching and also connecting with people you may not have seen in awhile.

I went out for lunch. It's right outside of my work building, so it's quite convenient. I walked along the vendors, admiring all the handcrafted items - in particular the cute tutus for baby girls! (I must get one for this baby! :-))

Anyways, I snagged a stromboli,some water and sat on ledge near my work. I people watched.

As I was observing those around me, I noticed a man wearing a winter jacket and cap. That struck me as out of character since it was almost 80 degrees. I watched him through my sunglasses as he walked over to a bench and sat down. I walked by peering at him and he wasn't really acknowledging anyone. I decided I wanted to connect with him and know his story.

I went to the ice-cream sandwich vendor, bought two, and walked back over to the bench he was at. As I was plopping down in the bench, I stuck my hand out with the ice-cream sandwich and said, "here, got you one too".

He looked surprised but uninterested, which sorta bummed me out. From a closer look, I could tell his clothes were worn and tattered. It also appeared that hes had a tough life. So, I sat beside him, ate my ice-cream sandwich and made small talk.

Slowly but surely he started opening up. He told me he lived at castleview (which verified to me that he had probably been homeless before) and that he had just had lunch at a church. I peered over to see if he had touched his ice-cream sandwich yet but he hadn't...

We kept chatting. I told him my name and reached my hand out to shake his. He smiled (for the first time in the conversation) and told me his name. I gleefully shook his hand in excitement that he was opening up abit.

In the midst of one of our silence in between the conversation, a friend walked by and we chatted.

When I was done chatting with the friend, I glanced over and my new friend was eating the ice cream sandwich.

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