The Day I Was Taught How To Love

Some stories are meant to be told; while others are not even worth our memory. His name was Hal. He was a very cordial man. He loved to chat the morning away with the other regulars in the coffee house. Hal was a quick witted gentleman, carrying enough sayings up his sleeve to fill a conversation. He always knew how to put a smile on someone’s face. I do not recall a time when Hal ever lost his own smile – even while waiting out the morning rush for his regular decaf cup of coffee.

            Hal’s morning routine was as ritualistic as a priest rising early in the morning for prayer. Every morning I would show up to work at 7am and there Hal was walking the streets of the parking lot. It was quite the peculiar scene to witness this eighty year old man slowly make his way around the entire parking lot as the sun greeted the day. What an odd thing to do, I thought. As each morning passed, I began to take notice of Hal reaching to the ground on numerous occasions to pick up a coin here and there. I initially gave a little chuckle making the conclusion that he used the change he gathered each day to save for his morning coffee. However, that was not the case. Hal never used change to pay for his morning coffee. Still my question was left unanswered – why does Hal scavenge the parking lot for spare change?

            A few months passed by and my question was never answered. Instead, I received news that my beloved morning regular in the coffee house had passed away.  This event was terribly saddening. Subsequently, I was reminded of this unanswered question of mine. Why was it that Hal spent the mornings in the freezing cold weather meandering about the parking lot in search for spare change? I had to find out.

            The next morning I stopped a good friend of Hal’s, named Betty, and I asked her. “Betty, why was it that Hal spent every morning walking the parking lot in search for spare change?”

She greeted me with a very warm smile. After giving a little chuckle, she proceeded to answer me.

“I’m glad that you would ask such a question,” she said. “After all, it is quite the odd scene to witness a well-to-do retired gentleman scavenging a parking lot for change. Why do you suppose he carried about in search for spare change?” Betty asked.

“Well, I just assumed he collected the change to pay for his morning cup of Joe,” I answered with a grin.

After returning my grin, Betty proceeded to answer this bewildering question.

Betty responded, “Every morning Hal walked the parking lot to collect all the coins he could find and placed them in a jar when he would go home. At the end of every year, Hal would take all of the change he had collected throughout the months and treat his wife to a nice dinner for their anniversary.”

            As I gazed across the counter at Betty, my eyes were brought to tears. Suddenly, I felt like I knew my old friend Hal in a greater light. I was overwhelmed at the realization that Hal spent each morning of his life choosing to think about his wife as he went about saving every penny he could find. At that moment, Hal taught me the greatest lesson a man could learn. Every morning, choose to love your wife – even if it takes the discipline and oddity of walking about a store parking lot picking up spare change here and there.