Sitting with a Fire Fighter

Today I was having a bad day. I dropped my “sparkly shiny dollar coins” in the parking lot and lost them in the leaves. When I bent down to get them out of the leaves, I ended up spilling my coffee on the arm of my jacket. I was so irritated. Once I found my “sparkly shiny dollar coins” for the parking machine, I heard the train coming and started to walk a little faster. My coffee splashed out of my cup and onto my gloves.

I went and paid the parking and then ran inside to grab some paper towels because there was a huge line to get on the train, I figured I had time to do it. When I got back outside I went into a different car than usual because I was freezing and that line was shorter. I grabbed a seat facing a man in a red hat. I sat down flustered and pulled out my book.

A few stops in, I decided to move inward and to let others sit. When I did, the guy in the red hat started talking to me. Small talk at first. He had an appointment in the city. He liked going in on the train but it was only his third time doing it so he was still confused but enjoyed the scenery. I closed my book and put it away.

He started to tell me how he is a fire fighter. He is ready to retire. He wasn’t really ready to retire but there was a bad fire this summer and the Chief made a bad call. The reason he was going to Boston was for a Dr’s appointment to discuss this fire. He couldn’t handle what happened that day and is done firefighting.

He then went on to say how he spent much of his life working for the dollar and how he wants to travel and see the States. Not even the world…the States. That says a lot to me. Because he was so focused on working, he missed a lot of things and now he was going to start his bucket list.

You ever have a bad day and then realize someone else is having a worse time than you. Suddenly my spilled coffee and dropped “sparkly shiny dollar coins” didn’t seem so bad. I also took away from this, work hard but play hard too. It’s not all about making money. You have to have fun, live and travel while you can.