I can remember names but never faces because it's always raining.

I decided to walk to the gas station last night, mostly because I had eaten a burrito and wanted to burn some of it off. It was a regular trip, a walk I have taken a hundred times. The thing was that when I got there, there was this older gentleman, short, layers on a baseball cap and big glasses. He was smiling and talking to the teller while holding on to his 12 pack of beer. He asked me my name and I said Jake, he replied Billy, "Billy Carr. Now you're either a musician or a a gigelo."
"Oh, it's one or the other?" I replied
"Has to be." He said
"Well I can play the drums and a little piano, but mostly I'm a writer and an abstract painter."
"Ooooohkay, so you're an artist, that makes more sense." He replied, this was the second time today that I had been asked if I was an artist.

We ended up leaving at the same time and walking the same way, we took our time, talked and laughed. He was one of the funniest older gentlemen I've ever met. When we got to the corner to split, as with any older person it's hard to find an out with the conversation. Enjoy this moment, Jake, I thought. And! I was right, turns out he is an old Jazz musician who has played with such legendary people as the Allman Brothers and I almost passed out when he said he is personal friends with Bonnie Raitt. Just goes to show, be nice to strangers and you never know who you will meet.

The point of this story is one of many stories he told me that stuck with me. An old man was sitting on a park bench while Billie was out practicing his photography. The old man looked depressed, sad and distraught, so Billie went over and sat next to him. "Sir," he said, "is there anything I can do for you?"
"Well," the man paused, "I just lost my wife."
"Oh, my condolences, I can relate. I just lost my wife in 2001"
"oh no!" The man looked up. "She is just down the street shopping, I have no idea where the hell she is, so I'm just sitting here on this bench waiting!"

The moral of the story was that, whatever you lose it's just down the street shopping and it will be back. If you should lose your faith, wait and hope and it will come back to you. If you lose love, in some way it will come back to you.

Jake Grant Gabriel


Questions? Comments? Email me at Hippie2012blogspot@hotmail.com