Strangers in Goodwill

I meander through the aisles of high heels and knick knacks as I make my way to the used furniture section when I feel someone behind me. I look over my shoulder inconspicuously and notice a tall figure closing in so I pick up the pace a bit attempting to put some distance between us. I stop walking when I hear him speak.
“Are those Doc Martens?”
Huh?
I turn around to find an elderly gentleman with a kind face looking down at my feet. I look down at my feet also and realize I haven’t yet responded.
“Yes they are.”
He tells me he likes them and I awkwardly lift one foot and tell him I like them also. So much so that I’ve probably worn them every day since I first got them. He chuckles and proceeds to tell me that it blows his mind that people are wearing them casually these days. He explains how he was in the military and they used to be his boot of choice during combat. I listen intently, because it’s what I prefer, and make sure to nod my head at the appropriate times to let him know I’m interested.
He proceeds to ask if I have any favorite breweries around to which I let him know I actually just moved to the area the week prior so I’m still exploring. He recommends a couple nice breweries and restaurants and begins to talk about his favorite coffee spot down the road. I inform him that’s actually my favorite coffee spot also and we take a moment to bond over our love for coffee.
He catches me off guard when he asks if I make art. I reply with “I used to” and he asks what kind. I tell him mostly pencil, sometimes colored pencil and markers and every once in a while I used to paint. He asks to see some of my work and I confess that it’sbeen so long I no longer have anything on my phone. He asks if I ever put my work on the internet and I shrug out a “Not really, it’s not all that good.” He all but says nonsense and informs me that I absolutely should share my art with the world. This man has no idea what my art looks like but he’s so adamant about it that I assure him I will indeed continue to make art and put it out there.
We continue to talk about Asheville, gentrification, and how much the city is changing.
I can tell the conversation is coming to a close and for a brief second I tense wondering where the conversation has been leading this entire time and praying to God I don’t have to turn down this eighty year old man.
“You just had a really great vibe and I had to talk to you” he says.
I hope he can tell that I’m smiling ear to ear under my mask. I thank him, genuinely, shake his hand and let him know I hope he has a beautiful rest of his day.
If you know me, you know small talk is normally not one of my strongest qualities. But here I am in the middle of the used furniture section at Goodwill twenty minutes deep in a conversation about coffee, art, cbd, and gentrification with a man 3 times my age killin it.
We part ways momentarily and I start to make my way to the front of the store but I quickly turn back around to invite this gentleman to dinner with my boyfriends and I or, I don’t know, join our friend group or something but he was nowhere to be found. Gone. Disappeared. Evaporated into thin air. I wandered through the store hoping to spot his hat over the racks of clothes with no such luck.
And the kicker? I didn’t even get his name.

So to the stranger in Goodwill: thank you. That was the most genuine conversation I’ve ever had with a complete stranger. You’ll also be happy to know I’ve put pencil to paper and completed three pieces since we spoke. I even uploaded them for the world to see. I hope life treats you kind and, who knows, maybe we’ll run into each other again in the used furniture section at Goodwill some day.