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Dave Reed's avatar

I love this. A few years ago my wife and I took our daughter to the mall to meet friends. We aren’t mall people so we found a coffee shop. She got a seat and I got in line.

A man came up behind me and said, “it’s just me, do you mind if I go after you?”

Normally I’d chuckle and go back to looking at my phone but instead I put my phone away and for the next 10 minutes I got to know Peter.

He was a retired engineer who went to the mall on Sundays to have coffee with friends.

I learned how he’d moved to Phoenix in the 70s and we talked about areas of town where we’d lived.

I offered to buy his coffee when we got to the front of the line but he was just getting a refill.

As we parted ways he said, “it’s too bad you don’t live closer, I think we could be great friends.”

As he left, he stopped by my wife’s table and thanked her for letting me talk to him.

It’s one of my favorite memories.

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Jess's avatar

Thank you for sharing that story, it was a bit of a roller coaster but now my heart is filled with joy and hope plus I have a few tears too!

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