I offered a new Olyblogger a cup of coffee.  It was really a whimsical gesture for her efforts and yet it brought back a great memory I'd like to share.

I was in Portland for business and had a hour or so to blow before a networking meeting, so I decided to hit one of the downtown coffee spots for an injection.

It was a beautiful day and decided to take the coffee out to the street tables, where I came upon a man enjoying his coffee and a fine cigar.  Since I don't really smoke them anylonger (since my heart attack) I asked if I could sit by him and enjoy his enjoyment.  He invited me to sit and we began to talk.

It turned out that he had lost his wife in the past few years, thus was on his own, as his daughter was an attorney in another city.  He had made his money with 11 McDonald's franchises and sold them back to corporate.  He was now enjoying the sunset of his life with a female companion that called during our conversation (he put her off in lieu of talking to me).  We sat there in the sun and talked for about an hour.  I asked where the Elephant Deli was, told him why I was going there, he gave me great directions and said to say hi to several people (I was going to an event planners meeting).

We both set out walking down the street to our cars.  We came upon a shop and he invited me to come in.  The shop keepers recognized in and he said "you know what I want" and waited.  They came back with a carton of fine chocolates that he handed to me and said "take these home to your wife and tell her how much you love her and missed her while you were gone".  Obviously, "no thanks" was not going to work.

I'm not sure why he made that gesture, but I know I sure enjoyed my conversation with that gentleman and often wonder how he's doing.

Maybe I need to go to Portland for a cup of coffee.