This afternoon, I ran out the door on two errands. I left behind one of the items I needed and had to come back home to get it. When I am running late or something detains me, I often think about perfect timing and I wonder what bad things I may have avoided or good things I may encounter by being in a certain place at a certain time.

Because of an error on my part, I had ordered the wrong train tickets and had to return them via UPS to get credit toward the correct tickets. I am so grateful that I noticed the mistake and was able to correct it. As I pulled into the UPS parking lot, in a little strip of shops near the K-mart and Kroger, I saw this and laughed out loud at who I imagined would have the brilliant audacity to roll this way.

There was a line all the way to the door in the UPS store so, at first, I thought I would sit for a minute before going in, I looked at the car again and then the store front and noticed a hand printed sign stating “MAIL NOT HERE YET” hastily taped to the inside of the window.  I suddenly decided to go on in and have an adventure. It became my mission to match the car with the person. There is a Greek Restaurant and a closed Gym, so my chances were fairly good that this character was in the UPS Store.  As I walked to the door I saw the reflection in the glass of a woman carrying a toddler behind me. I let her in before me, happy to have extra time in line to enjoy my mission.

There were two UPS representatives helping customers, a distinguished 70 something black man, and an 80 something woman who appeared eclectic but not quite eccentric enough to be my guy. I watched her walk out anyway and she went to another car. There was the 50 something woman holding the sleepy, sweaty headed toddler who was now playing peek-a-boo with me behind her shoulder and then in the back corner I spotted him.

His blue jeans were worn and patched in several places by lighter shades of denim topped with a solid white Jimmy Buffet short sleeved button down shirt. His hair was stark white and unruly but he was clean shaven. Regardless of his attire, he cut the figure of an elegant gentleman holding forth in the plastic chair near the rented post office boxes. He was having a very loud conversation about baseball which made me think of the Abbott and Costello skit “Who’s on first.” I believe he was listing baseball teams from a southern farm league in rapid fire “Lake Charles was in the such-and-so league. Alexandria was in the other league. Do you know where DeRidder is? Do you know who played for that team?” The other man he was speaking with had his back to me and was leaning in and, although he was not, everything about him, to include a black mock turtleneck, gave off the essence of a man of God, perhaps a priest. His easy laugh and his obvious desire to engage with this man made me feel like the world is a good place. He answered “No, I don’t. But you’re going to have me get my phone out again aren’t you.” He pulled out his phone, typed something into it and then said “Here it is! So, the DeRidder ………” The baseball facts he read made the older man come alive, nodding his head and adding details to all that was reported. He quickly moved on to the next team, statistics, and a side story that “most people don’t know.” I was delighted.

The woman with the toddler was turning to leave and the UPS man helping her turned to the 70-ish gentleman and said in a normal speaking voice. “I’m sorry about him!” The gentleman looked up in the same exact way I did and said “I’m enjoying what he has to say.” I said “I am too. He’s fine just the way he is.” The lady behind me chimed in as well. The UPS man seemed surprised and a little ashamed. He said “Oh, he’s interesting but it’s the volume I can’t handle. It would help if he would get a hearing aid.” He shook his head and added “He’s 89 years old! I’ll be lucky if I live that long.” He nervously helped me with my return and I saw that this job is not what he wanted to be doing. Everything fell into place.

The 89 year old man rolls in sideways into the parking lot each day, well before the mail arrives, and he strikes up a conversation with someone (although I suspect the kind man, not of the cloth, comes in often to spend time with this gem.) He IS quite loud and animated. He is HAPPY! Those who are joyful are attracted to him; those who are not are annoyed. I know who put up the “MAIL NOT HERE YET” sign and I know why. My baseball fan does not come to the UPS store to check his mail, so he ignores the sign. He comes to interact with people, to share his passion and knowledge and experience. He is probably lonely and gains so much from this daily routine. Recounting all the facts is keeping his mind sharp and I suspect when he asks a question about a team, it is because he has forgotten and having someone read the statistics prompts him back on track. Slick!

In another age, he would have gone to the general store to sit on the porch and play checkers and tell stories with other men of his age. He would have been able to interact with young and old alike, watch the world go by and add wise commentary to the daily goings on. I’m glad he has found somewhere to go to make sure he still exists. Truly, don’t we all need that more than anything else?