i liked him.....

an early quick walk today....
so i got to be out there when it was just
gettin' light....
what a gorgeous time of day!!

walked a different route today.
started up on a busy road.
i consider everyone i walk by a
neighbor. if i can walk by you,
you live close enough.

this guy really is a close neighbor
tho. but i don't know him because his
house is in a weird spot. i just wave
here and there.

he's what i'd call 'eccentric.'
not in any kinda harmful way....but
in some ways that his immediate neighbors
find hard to deal with.

and i've heard complaints from his immediate
neighbors.

he's a junk collector.
and well......i mean......an honest to goodness,
you don't collect more than this guy,
you can see the junk heaps from google earth
shots it's so bad the county's been called
kinda junk collector.

if i'm not mistaken, there's some kinda
psychological disorder that covers the collecting
of junk to this degree.
seriously.
i think that's interesting.

so i've heard bad things about him and i know
who he is because of that. i've only been in
positions to wave before and that's what i've
done.

but this morning as i was nearing his house,
i saw him walk outside.

i thought 'ya know, he's prolly really got some
kinda collecting problem and he's not a bad
guy. he prolly could use a little kindness.'

he was putting his trash out.
the way it worked, he wouldn't have even
noticed me and i coulda just kept walkin'.
but i got this kindness bug in my ear, so
i shout on out 'good morning!'

and my goodness.....wouldn't you know....
i got THE friendliest repsonse i've ever
gotten from anyone in the entire neighborhood.
it was knock you down friendly.

of course, i replied with the same.
i kept goin tho as it's a busy road and
i didn't want to stay on it.

but i tell ya, as i walked away i had the
biggest smile on my face.

and i got to thinking about how much what
other people say colors things and that's
so not good.

i've always kinda looked at him with a
skeptical eye.

sure, he's got some major junk issues.
but he sure was nice.

how many times have i taken what other
people say and start from there on my
opinion of another person.

and yeah, sometimes i honestly think that's
okay. sometimes you need some of that
feedback to start.

but not often.
not as often as i do it, that's for sure.

i think i got one heck of a cool lesson
this morning.

i liked him.

and if i listened to other people i wouldn't
have.

and that was my gift on my walk today......