Old Man by the Sea
Richie- I went to the beach after class today to see the snow and I ran into this guy. I walked up onto the boardwalk ten minutes after seeing him walking on the beach and we started talking. Richie went on to tell me about his life growing up and how he ended up where he is today. From getting polio and being deathly-ill for a year as a child, to moving from Washington D.C. to NYC years later when changing jobs. Richie told me a lot about his childhood. He also told me that after the job in NYC, he went from working at a high-labor, low-paying job at a printing company to fighting in Korea for 5 years. Now, being a 75 year-old retired-roofer, Richie is all about health and real estate. He has 3 houses on Long Island, and eats a lot of veggies (specifically home-grown wheat grass), and jogs every day. You might think it's weird to talk to random people like this, but when you go around being friendly to strangers, the stories you hear almost always contradict your first impressions. In the process you also give that person someone to talk to, and when you don't know how someone's day, week, or life has been, giving someone time to tell their story is more important to them then they could possibly express. Thanks wheat-grass man.
Jones Beach, Ny 1-31-17
