The Side Effects of Endorphins

Today I skipped my morning run and went for a walk. I wanted to be out for an hour. I craved seeing the ocean so I headed towards the overlook about a half mile from my home. The weather was dull, kind of hypothetical, but what mornings aren’t beautiful. I picked up occasional pieces of the trash lazily left behind, said hello to people I pretended to know

I was an hour in and started to get hungry. I constructed a vegan pot pie in my mind that I would make for my wife when she gets home from work tonight. Pot pie was not something I liked as a kid and I can’t say I’ve had it for a long time.

There on the corner of Rockefeller and 20th sat a man who looked to be about my age. He sat contently on the curb, drinking a cup of coffee. He asked me about my dog and told me he had beagles and how much he missed them.

I excused myself for a second and asked if it’s OK if I turned off the book I was reading through my headphones. He asked me if I was a reader and whether I enjoyed reading.. I told him I’m a voracious reader. He asked me what I did for a living. I said I was a computer programmer. He told me he was a sheet rock person, and I said that’s the skill that I could never master.

He told me he could tell I was a good person and I kind of knew where he was going with this. I told him I was just writing about that earlier of what makes someone a good person.

I didn’t offer any suggestions, but he certainly had a suggestion or two. He continued drinking his coffee and he told me that if you love the Lord, you’re a good person.

I said to him, I’m not a religious person and you just referred to me as a good person.

He replied, “I see your point“

I thanked him for his lack of preaching and a pleasant five minutes standing on the curb. We shook hands and parted ways after telling me his name was Dan.

I assume he’s a good person and that’s where I’ll leave that curbside conversation.