A Wink and a Smile (Lisa)

On my daily walks, I look down at the pavement, I guess out of a fear of tripping or slipping, but on this cold wintry day, I looked up and saw an elderly man waving at us from his apartment window. We were almost past him when I noticed, and though I waved back I didn’t stop to say hello. I wondered as we passed, did he mistake us for someone else? No matter. It did me good and I thanked God on the spot for that God light moment.

The following day I thought to look up at his apartment and there he was again, smiling through the glass at us. I waved back vigorously this time, saying, Pat! Look there he is again! It filled us both with joy! We turned our whole bodies toward him and shared a long extended wave of hello. It gave us pause and we shared how confining these past couple years must be for the elderly, especially during these winter months. I said a little prayer for him and held him in my heart.

Many weeks went by and we often encountered our friendly neighbor in the window. One day we even ran into him in the parking lot. He was taking his trash out and we learned his name was Harvey. With a smile, he told us he’d been watching us on our walks together for a long time. It touched me to think someone noticed and cared about us even in a small way. The God light in us is so good.

On January 12th it was my dad’s birthday. He would have been 88 but he died at the young age of 64. Dad had a wildly compassionate heart for his fellow man. Each night at the dinner table he would share stories with us about this poor old man or woman.

I once caught him following a very old woman with two arms full of groceries. She was leading him to her house which sat just next to the bank he worked at. I spied on his act of kindness through his office window and as she slowly inched along, he patiently followed behind carrying her load. When he returned, he gave me a wink and a smile and though he told me of this “poor old woman carrying these heavy bags home, he never mentioned the kindness he shared on his lunchbreak. My dad was so good at loving.

In honor of dad, I wanted to do a wild act of love for someone I didn’t really know. I chose Harvey. I prayed he would be in the window and he was. I gestured that I had something for him in my backpack and he came down. His lovely wife came to the window and waved to us too. We learned from his smiling face that he was 90 years old and that he met his wife Hazel when they were 15 years old. They had married 72 years ago and were trying very hard to make it to their 75th anniversary. So precious.

We shared a frozen mac and cheese casserole with them with a promise to be back on some random day with a pumpkin pie hot out of the oven. We exchanged numbers and a week or so later I called to tell them I had a pie for them. Hazel told me, I wanted to thank you last week when you came because, guess what? That day was my birthday and I am 92! I told her she shared a birthday with my wonderful dad and how he led me to do something wild and crazy with love! It felt like a wink and a smile from my dad. I cried and giggled as I left Hazel and Harvey whispering, I see you dad!

Thank you, Dad in God and God in Dad for helping me find the God light in me. God is so good all the time!

A month later: I was invited up for a sit-down visit. I learned such wonderful things about this remarkable couple but my favorite lesson was their strong faith in God and the feeling that they still had purpose, work to do in this life. Harvey’s work is to wave and smile at passersby. He shared that he waves to children getting on and off the school bus. Hazel added that Harvey dresses up for them with special hats on holidays. The word is out as a growing multitude of children stop by, looking up at the window to feel that love.

Once, twin siblings stopped and waved him down for a chat. They told him after their hardest days in school they look forward to the old man in the window waving. He helps them, comforts them, makes them know God’s love. I guess we all have the work of God’s love to share until our very last breath. Thank you, Dad, Hazel and Harvey for reminding me of that!