The older of the two gentlemen that I painted can no longer go out for his daily walk. So the younger does not come over to walk the path alone. I only know this because the older man’s wife stopped to tell me. She drives the same path every day. I’m sure she had for years. I probably stepped off to the side a hundred times to let her through. And I hate to admit it, but many of those times, I was quite possibly annoyed, having to yield to her vehicle. Now I know her car. I know her wave. Her smile and her voice. And I’m honestly quite pleased to share the path. 

I mention it only because we just don’t know where one connection will lead. One kindness. They always mean something. And we are the better for it.

And the same goes for the opposite. If we pass along our bad energy, it travels along that same path. Seemingly even at greater speed.  So I try to remind myself. Ask myself. Daily. What is that I want to come across up the road? What am I leaving behind for others to pass through? 

Now the cynic might say, well it ended so quickly, you don’t even see those men anymore. But you have to understand, it didn’t end at all. It was only just the beginning. And so it is, every time we share the path, the journey — we begin and begin again.