February 28th, 2025
This is from my journal…
I went to a cafe after the gym this morning. I wanted to apply to jobs and plan out my future, but the wifi wasn’t connecting to my laptop. While I was fidgeting with the network, I overheard the two men next to me. They were talking about society. I couldn’t hear exactly what about society, they were whispering, “the world,” so people like me wouldn’t hear.
One of the men speaking didn’t have a nose. Instead, he had a bandage covering where his nose would be. The entire bone structure was gone. I imagined it was just the holes of his nostrils under his bandage.
Then, behind me, two old friends reconnected. They were both much older than me, probably in their late 70s. First, the man said hi and that he’d recognized the lady. She replied, “Well, I was waiting for you to say hi”. And he got up and moved toward her.
“Well, should I come over to you or you come over to me?” He said it slightly awkward.
She stayed put. “I think you should come over here.”
“Well, okay then. I’ll wobble over to you,” He says this after he got up and collected his belongings.
The lady takes a moment to respond and finally goes, “Well, did that start?”, referring to his leg.
“Well, it all began in 1985,” he chuckles.
“Oh, so you’ve had it, but you just kept going?”
“Yes,” he said.
The older lady was knitting a doll, probably for a child in her life. Her voice reminded me of one of my own aunts.
Anyway, I ended up leaving soon after, since the WiFi wasn’t working. The rambling of the coffee shop went on behind me as I stuffed my things into my tote bag. But on my way out, the two men from before were right outside having a smoke. They were mentioning how good it was to see one another and that far too much time had passed since they last hung out.
I let out a laugh as I thought about the old man and his wobbly leg since 1985. I get caught up in my own story that when I overhear people talking about their lives and thoughts, it strikes me how vast and numerous the stories are out there. We’re all just unknown to each other. We’re all just living life.
