Be BOLD

Image by Dean Moriarty from Pixabay

Every great yarn begins with “There I was…”  But this story needs a preface. This story is about being bold and I promise to get to that.

But first…

As most of you reading this know, our office is on 12th Ave., Nampa, one of the busiest thoroughfares in southwest Idaho. We have a delightful space that is almost all windows on two walls and the natural light these windows provide is unbeatable. Needless to say, not many folks walking up or down 12th go unnoticed. And believe me, there are not a few characters. All kinds of people all day long. I often wonder where they are going and what they are doing.

Sometimes they stop in…

There is a certain fellow who passes by frequently, and occasionally stops in to say hi and sometimes go #2. (He actually pulled a newspaper out of his shirt one day as he headed into our bathroom. And for those of you familiar with our office, you know the door of the john opens right into our treatment area). Sometimes he stays long enough to chat. Which is OK if we are not seeing clients. But even if we are, he doesn’t mind chatting anyway. Harmless fellow but maybe a different rhythm, socially.

Back to the story…

There I was, on Holly Street at the Stinker Station getting fuel, hustling, and trying to get back home to clean up and get to work, when I spied our above mentioned hero coming towards us. He hadn’t realized that it was us, so Abbey, my kid, and I sort of ducked down so as not to be recognized. Now I know some of you are thinking “what a schmuck” hiding from people. All well and good but I was trying to hustle and get to work. However, I raised my head up just in time, and my timing was off, and whoops, I made eye contact.

“Staying out of trouble?” he said as he approached the car. A classic lead in line for a guy with too much time on his hands.

“You bet Mr. S, what about you?”, another classic comeback for those trying to deflect, but also a tactical blunder because now the door was wide open and he was running through it. He did in fact proceed to tell me how he was staying out of trouble. And then he added another classic line “You working today?”

 I thought maybe he needed to use our restroom or something.

“I am indeed, trying to get there now”, says I, sensing my escape strategy.

But without missing a beat “Mr. S” says, “Hey, you got five bucks?”

He doesn’t usually hit me up for money. And Alysson told me later that she had made the same blunder and was also out five bucks from a previous encounter. Mind you this guy is not typically a panhandler. But he also was not asking for spare change. Five bucks! (Inflation is hitting us all)

Go big or go home!

“I do”, I said, which is weird because usually I don’t carry any cash. I’m not against it, I just don’t usually have any. And his inquiry caught me so off guard, the boldness of the request, that all I could do was fumble around in my car and comply. I handed him a fiver.

“Thanks,” he said, “now get back to work!” as he stuffed the Lincoln into his pocket. The conversation had now abruptly ended. He was moving on.

I turned and looked at Abbey, and both of us, in unison, cracked up.

“Did he say what I thought he just said? ‘You got five bucks? Thanks, now get back to work!’?”

“Yes, he sure did!” Abbey replied.

 He reminded me of the government, except the “thanks” part.

Folks, there is something to be said for speaking your mind and asking for what you want in life and then being grateful.

Them’s that asks, gets.

Be bold folks, ask for more: more courage, more strength, more peace, you make the call. But ask and “get to work”.

Oh yea, then say “thanks”.

Keep it simple.

Cheers,

ks