I may have made a good friend for life, or maybe not. At any rate, it’ll be a fun part of my Daytona Beach experience, probably not as memorable as my birthday dinner at Hyde Park Steakhouse.
This one’s for you, Jim, and anyone not comfortable with small talk.
At sunrise yesterday morning, here at Daytona Beach, where your mom and me are spending a fun vacation week, I walked about 50 yards from our cabana room at the Hilton, to the lovely boardwalk, to view the gorgeous sunrise due in 5 minutes. (Golly, that’s a long sentence).
There was already a gentleman at the boardwalk, also waiting for the sun. When I arrived at the boardwalk railing, I said, “Beautiful mornin, isn’t it?” He said, “Sure is. And much nicer and warmer than Wisconsin. Where r you from?” I answered, “Charleston, South Carolina.” (Very clearly so he wouldn’t confuse it with West Virginia or Charlotte, North Carolina. I dare you to delete my parenthetical comment, mon editeur.)
I further added, “My wife and I are here for a short vacation and change of pace.” He said, “Me too. This is home for me, but my job in manufacturing dragged me to Wisconsin and, oh yeah, my wife’s from there. For some reason she likes the cold weather. She, reluctantly, agreed to come with me for a short visit to the beach I love. After my heart attack last year, we decided to take vacations at Daytona frequently.”
I answered with empathy, “I’m so sorry you have a heart problem. Are you doin ok now?” “Oh yeah,” he responded, “I just had three stents put in and I’m ok now.” “Wow, we have somethin in common. I had two stents put in 25 years ago. I’m still here. Oh, by the way, I’m Don,” and he said, “I’m Carlo.”
We sat on a stone bench on the boardwalk and chatted for about 15 minutes, while watching the sunrise. We played, ‘Can you top this?’ In discussing health issues. I think I won. In 15 or 20 minutes, I learned more about this total stranger’s life than I know about some close relatives.
I told him I was writing short life stories for a Blog, my son was editing and managing for me. He dared me to write a story about meeting a total stranger at Daytona and sharing life stories. Thus, this story. Turns out, he and his wife are staying three units down from us. Mom and I have passed their unit a few times and exchanged pleasantries.
I doubt that he, Carlo, will read this, even though I told him about Scoolerisms and said I’d write about our short ‘Small Talk’ meeting. So I know a bunch about his ‘Sitcom’ and he knows of mine. Is that time well spent? I dunno, but I enjoyed our chat.
Enuf.
Isn’t it amazing what you can find out about a person when you simply take the time to make that first opening statement? You’re good at it, Don! I do it often to0….especially when standing in line at Walmart or in the doctor’s office (and when the other person isn’t peering at his/her phone!!)
It’s almost an instinct with me. I gotta say somethin if s person appears to be willing to speak. I have my strong opinions about that too. When Josh was little about 28 years ago, we would take walks together. On one walk he asked, “Granddaddy, how do you know if someone is a good person?” I said. “Watch”. We walked a bit and came upon another walker. I said, ” Howdy”. She said, cheerily, “. Good mornin “. After a few steps, I whispered to Josh, “. That’s a good person. A bit later another person came close. I said, “. Good mornin.” He ignored me and passed. A fee steps later, I whispered to Josh, ” That’s a jack ass. ” A life lesson, he will not forget.