Tip

            Living in the city all my life, I'd become cautious towards strangers. I kept this guard up after relocating to raise our children in a small township.

            While I strolled Main Street one morning, a man using a cane neared my baby's coach. As he approached us on the sidewalk, I took stock of him. Thin and weathered, a bit hunched and very aged. Yet, I felt his strange self-possession.

            Before passing, he did something to me I'd never experienced. With one sincere motion, he fingered the brim of his hat in the wisp of a nod.

If not for his frail frame I wouldn't have peeked at his seasoned face, braving a connection. His eyes translated deep respect that sparked my core with warmth. An impulse urged me to hug him.

Recovered from my swoon, I knew not to approach him with such odd behavior. By then, he was half a block behind me anyway.

            This brief, silent affair proved I was home.