A quick and easy transformation from strangers into friends

  • By Bruce Stambaugh
  • February 28, 2014
  • 352
                        
Summary Bruce Stambaugh shares about how making strangers into friends enriches all involved. Bruce Stambaugh writes about nature, weather, hobbies and people, often using personal experiences. Much to their dismay, he also writes about his family. He uses humor and pathos when he can’t think of anything else to include. For March 10, 2014 We had never met this couple before, or so we thought. All we knew was that they were across the street neighbors from our long-time friends who live in Kitchener, Ontario, and this couple was vacationing at Amelia Island, Florida at the same time we were. Our common Ontario friends knew what they were doing. We made arrangements to meet these strangers one afternoon at a Fernandina Beach coffee shop, not knowing we had already “met” them the day before. What unfolded was nothing short of amazing. Don and Gail were already seated when Neva and I arrived. We joined them at the table, and it was like the starter’s flag had been dropped at the Daytona 500. In speech, they weren’t your typical Canadians. Gail’s native English accent was lyrical. Don couldn’t hide his Bermuda brogue if he wanted to. He didn’t. Don and Gail were kind enough to accept our Midwestern twang without comment. Our conversation lasted longer than our afternoon tea. It turns out that we had much more in common than mutual friends. Don and Gail were attracted to Amelia Island because of its laid back lifestyle, and her friendly people reminded them of their beloved Bermuda, an island country nearly identical in size to the barrier island. Neva and I said the same thing about Holmes County. Gail and Neva both rambled on about children and grandchildren. Don and I quickly discovered two shared interests. We both love photography, and we both served as volunteer firefighters for several years. Our connections went far beyond the Kitchener link. Neva and I traveled to Bermuda in 1995 to follow our son in a golf tournament. Gail and Don knew several of the people we had met there. They even knew the home where we stayed. We arranged to meet Don and Gail for lunch at a local seafood restaurant on the pier, and then invited them over to see our rental. We talked and laughed for hours. That’s pretty much how it went for the next four weeks. Gail and Neva went shopping. Don and I went birding, hiking, shooting pictures all the while. We went out to eat together. We explored the area’s many lovely state parks. When some of our friends from home visited, Don and Gail joined us, and the guests bonded with them as quickly as we had. Here’s the kicker about connecting with this gregarious couple. The day before the coffee shop meeting, the town held its weekly local farmers market. We checked it out with the intentions of buying locally raised produce and homemade bread and pastries. As is my habit, I carried my camera. I took picture after picture of the luscious strawberries and the leafy greens. Of course, I couldn’t help but include some people in the shots, too. I review my horde of photographs from time to time to thin out the pictures I don’t want to keep. As I scrolled through the pictures, I couldn’t believe what I found. There behind the red, ripe tomatoes and assorted, leafy greens were Don and Gail. I had taken their picture the day before we formally met. Mere coincidence? I doubt it. One of my vacation reads was Anne Lamott’s “Traveling Mercies.” Lamott considers traveling mercies as events or people put in your path for specific, often unforeseen purposes. I photographed strangers at a street market. Traveling mercies easily transformed them into extraordinary friends. To read more The Rural View, visit Bruce Stambaugh at www.holmesbargainhunter.com.


Loading next article...

End of content

No more pages to load