About an hour later we came off the boardwalks and got our picnic lunch out of the RV. I found a picnic table overlooking Mobile Bay and realized that Mr. Biker was sitting at the table next to us. As I sat down I made some innocuous comment like "Wow...it looks like you are a serious bike traveler!" He smiled, put his apple down and said, "Well I am homeless." I was not sure how to respond and said something dumb like "I'm sorry.....I'm glad you are having nice weather!" Agggghhhh!!!! As Dave and I ate our sandwiches and Fenway sniffed around the table I kept glancing at him. We don't carry a lot of cash when we travel now that we use charge and debit cards, but I picked up my tote and found $15.00 in my wallet. I walked over to the man and said "Here....I'd like to give this to you." He protested over and over that it wasn't necessary and I didn't have to do that. My response was something like "Everyone has a story and right now yours sounds more difficult than mine....and it will make me feel good." So he took it thanking me over and over and over again.
We finished our lunch and headed for the rental.....passing his as he biked out of the park.
Two weeks later we were packing the RV to head back to Milwaukee. I'd been cooking most of our dinners and planned pretty well....but we did have some "left overs". During our stay in Fairhope we talked to the elderly gentleman, Richard, who lived in the apartment next to us....he had a dog named Hazzy that he loved very much and some kinds of physical limitations that made it hard for him to get around. He had a special recumbent bicycle that he used, Hazzy tied to the side, to travel. He was very pleasant but did not seem to have any family or connections in the community.
As we packed up I gathered the food that I knew would not fit in the RV and that we would not use on the way home. I'm talking about one-half of a box of Bisquick, two zip lock bags of frozen soup and one of a pasta dinner, the remainder of a jar of spaghetti sauce, two carrots and a stalk of celery and one can of dog food. I knocked on Richard's door to ask if I could give him the food....that I hated to just throw it out. I can't begin to tell you how grateful he was.....he kept saying that this would "be enough for a whole week!" for him.
I can't stop thinking about both of these men. I don't know their stories, other than Richard was in the service. But such small "contributions" on our part......making a difference and reinforcing the fact that Dave and I are just so damn fortunate.
$15 and some frozen soup......two small things.....
No comments:
Post a Comment