One Morning in a Pennsylvania Parking Lot

I was putting the last of my things in the car while my husband was checking out of the hotel in Erie, Pennsylvania.  It was Father’s Day and we were headed home from a sale we had attended in New York. 

The beautiful morning sun made for a great start to the day and while I was standing there waiting, a young dad came out and was loading luggage into his pick-up truck.  I said good morning and then curiosity got the best of me and I asked about the sticker on his back window. It said “NVR SMR.”

He encouraged me to guess, so I stood for a few minutes and guessed the first one, never.  And he enthusiastically said, “Yes! You’re so close, you can do this!” And then I blurted out “Summer!  Never Summer!”

He said, “YES!” And then gave me a high five.

Of course the follow up question, “What does that mean?”

He told me it was a brand of snowboards and that he and his family love winter and all the snow sports. We meandered down that path of where he goes, how often he goes and that he and his family should definitely go to the Rocky Mountains and enjoy real powder on real slopes.

He asked if I skied, and I proceeded to tell him about my one downhill skiing experience with my dad in the Rocky Mountains in Montana.  You remember, the one where we stood in line on the bunny hill to get our one skiing lesson from the professional only to have my impatient father say, “We don’ t need lessons, come on, let’s go get on the chairlift and go up to the top.” Of course, I followed because if my dad believed I could do it then I knew I could…. until I got to the top.   The chair lift dumped us off, and I collapsed in a heap and started scrambling to get out of the way of the people behind us getting dumped off.  It was literally all down hill from there and I never went again.

This total stranger obliged my story, laughed with me, noted the confidence I had in my dad and we both recognized the importance of the father role in a family giving his kids encouragement to try new things. He had no idea that my dad had passed away or the enjoyment I received reminiscing over a fun story I hadn’t thought of in years.

I will likely never see this man again, but I walked away thinking how gratifying that five minute conversation was in the hotel parking lot in Erie, Pennsylvania.  That human connection is exactly what we were created for as we traverse our brief time on earth.  Don’t waste the time you’ve been given closing off the rest of the world, instead greet people with a smile, you never know what you might learn or the blessing you will receive.