Today I delivered Meals on Wheels on a route that I hadn’t run for several years. Most of the people I used to know on that route aren’t on it anymore, but one old gentleman still is. This old guy has an extraordinary collection of shells that he’s picked up over the years. I had a young man, 17 years old, with me. Beth and I have been friends of his grandparents for 35 years or more, and I actually taught this kid’s father when he was in high school. It was delightful getting to know this boy, and he and I spent about ten minutes with the shell-man as he showed us his stuff. The shell-man had a stroke a few years ago, and his speech was badly affected by it. Asking him to show us his shells clearly made his day (maybe even his week), and the kid uhhed and ahhed appropriately. I doubt that the boy was really all that impressed, but the old guy REALLY seemed to enjoy himself. I told the boy that the motto of Meals on Wheels is, “We deliver smiles,” and I think he and I lived that motto to the fullest today.
ED