“The simple things are also the most extraordinary things,
and only the wise can see them.”
— Paulo Coelho
I moved last week, and there is someone I already miss. The strange thing is, I never even knew his name.
The photos above are from the path (in different seasons) I went down almost every morning when I walked Alice or was out for an early run.
I would see this older man out walking every time I was out. Probably mid to late 70s. He would always have on shorts and a t-shirt but in the winter he would add thermals under his shorts and shirt and add a stocking cap. Never a coat and always the shorts.
Every time, we would smile at each other and either wave or say good morning.
That was it. No long conversations or deep friendship, just two humans crossing paths over and over again during the same chapter of life.
I realized this week that moving is not just leaving a home. It is leaving behind all of the tiny familiar things you do not think about until they are suddenly gone. The coffee shop you walked to. The cashier who recognized you at the grocery store. The people whose names you never learned but whose presence quietly became part of your life.
I feel like there is something oddly comforting about familiar strangers.
I think we underestimate how much these tiny human interactions matter. The quick smile from someone you see often. The routine hello. The person who silently witnesses pieces of your life without even realizing it.
That man saw me through more seasons of life than he will ever know.
He saw me running when I was training for a marathon. He saw me walking Bailey on her last day with me before she went to the rainbow bridge. He saw me walking Alice when she was a puppy and didn’t know what to do on a leash. He saw me walking when I was trying to stop the tears from a hard day.
And now I will probably never see him again.
That is the strange thing about life. Sometimes people become part of our story without either person fully realizing it. Not every meaningful connection is some huge dramatic relationship. Sometimes it is simply … consistency. Just someone saying good morning on an ordinary Tuesday morning.
I think that is why this has made me emotional thinking about him. Not because I lost a best friend, but because certain people quietly become woven into the fabric of our lives, and we do not notice how much they mattered until the pattern changes.
I think what this has really made me realize is how often we miss the meaning of a chapter while we are still living inside of it. We think the important parts of life are the giant milestones.
The big moments. A wedding, a graduation, a birth, a death. Yes, those very are important, but so are the small things.
The walk.
The familiar path.
The neighborhood coffee shop.
The neighbor you waved to.
The familiar stranger who always said good morning.
The tiny things that quietly became part of your life without you even noticing they were becoming important.
Life is happening for you right now in ways you are not fully noticing because it’s in the little things, and you are focusing on the big things. The upcoming graduation you have, the big project at work, the family member who is sick. I’m not saying to not put energy into those big moments you have going on in your life. But don’t forget those smaller ones either. Take a minute today to look at some of those small things and appreciate them.
To the man that I waved at in the mornings, I never knew your name, but I will miss you.
Remember, YOU GOT THIS!
ONE ON ONE COACHING – Good Things Are Gonna Come
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