The Nice Thing About Strangers
Creative Non-Fiction Short Stories. :) Travel, Oldsters, Love, and Compassion.
Two Cheers for Staying Cheerful
He crawls on the elliptical next to mine. He summons a huge breath and sends out a slow, I’d-love-to-seem-determined-but-I’m-here-against-my-will exhale.
“Well,” he says it to himself, but doesn’t mind when I turn my gaze toward him. His gray hair matches his mustache. He wobbles. “Gotta get after it, even when you don’t want to, right?”
“Yep, then you can go home and enjoy a beer,” I laugh.
“Oh yeah, good point. You’ve got your head on straight.” We grin through the next few minutes, then our smiles fade. He digs in. I cool down. I give him another encouraging nod as I wiped down my machine like any good citizen. Then we share a call of “Cheers!” as I depart.
-Vermont
Photo courtesy of Joe Kuharic. Thank you, Joe! 🙂
The Nice Thing About Strangers 
you let him get away??
There’s something about a 30 year age difference… 🙂
think of all that experience……
There’s always a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow after the storm. Or, um, a frosty brew at the end of a workout. I can’t figure out which one I’d enjoy more. I’ll take both please – Cheers to you Paige 😉
I agree, Dave! Both works! 🙂