Good morning. I hope this message finds you well. I felt compelled to pop on here for a minute and share a sweet memory with you. This is the story of Homeless Harold. There’s inspiration everywhere, you just have to want to be inspired.
Homeless Harold.
One day I was out and about trying to find an escape from my life for a minute. I grabbed my camera and headed out. I had no idea where I was going. It was the last moments (I felt) of my freedom. My car was about to be repossessed and I knew it but did not have the means to stop it from happening. I pulled into the inlet by the beach to snap a few nature photos (my hobby) when a man approached me. He was a nice looking man in his early 60’s, kind of like Sean Connary a little. He was well groomed, wearing a button down Hawaiian shirt and a pair of khaki pants.
I was standing by the picnic table, fumbling with my camera sim card as he took a seat at the picnic table behind me, a slight distance away. We both said good morning to each other and a conversation ensued. He asked if it would be ok to come over to my picnic table so we could hear each other better.
He told me that he had been homeless for a while and that he almost died from covid. He told me he had a construction business, a wife and a daughter, once upon a time. After he was released from the hospital, having nowhere to go, he moved in with his nephew and his nephew’s wife while he was recovering. The nephew’s wife was not happy about having him there so he was asked to leave. He had been living in his car ever since. He told me he was about to start a job building and repairing electric bicycles in a nearby town and seemed very excited about it.
As the conversation continued, we shared stories of “adventures in homelessness” but , regardless of the topic, it was an upbeat and uplifting conversation for the both of us. We made eachother laugh, I guess to lighten the load. We talked about the benefits of nature and resources like state parks and beaches among other things. We touched on prior disappointments of life but didn’t dwell on them. I find being in nature centers me and I think he felt the same.
After about an hour, I had somewhere to be so I had to cut the conversation short. Part of me was very attracted to this man and wanted to sit there and talk to him all day. For some reason, I felt safe with him. At the end of the conversation, we shook hands and thanked each other for a great conversation and wished each other well.
In the days that followed, I wanted to go back to the inlet to see if he was still there but the universe had other plans for me. The very next day, my car was repossessed and I had to, once again, reorganize my life. I don’t know what ever happened to Homeless Harold but I know he was put in my path to inspire me to keep moving forward, with a positive attitude. I am so grateful for moments like this in my life. I am a Reiki practitioner. Although Reiki is never sent, it is always drawn in by the recipient through an energy channel. Maybe I’m telling this story because Harold is drawing in my energy, (or conversely, I’m drawing in his), which is that of positive healing and happiness vibes that I emit every time he crosses my mind.
