The Man Who Stole My Heart

My heart is a place I keep near and dear, a place that only a select few males have ever had access to and even then have really only brushed along the surface. The two men who hold the deepest place in my heart are undoubtedly my younger brothers, but this weekend there was one special man who stole it away.

I had just walked out of seeing my favorite movie genre, which may or may not be a surprise to some, is a romantic comedy. As I said goodbye to my movie partner and headed towards the train I thought about the characters in the movie and the storyline and thought to myself, “Everyone should find that kind of love and romance.” As I waited for the train, a man walked up and at that very moment my heart skipped as if I had seen my biggest crush walk into the room. I couldn’t help but instantly smile, because you see, I had actually seen this man before on a train a few weeks ago. This man has a smile that could literally light a dark sky. His eyes show so much kindness and unconditional happiness. While there are a number of reasons one might hold their look at this man for longer than the average glance, the first time I saw him, I held my glance at the character that illuminated from his face.

When I saw this man for the first time on the train a few weeks prior, my fondest memory was not only his smile but his kindness towards others. I’ll never forget when a woman walked onto the train and had a tough time finding a seat, he moved over and motioned for her to sit in the seat next to him- granted it was crowded, but there was still an open seat. She smiled, and he nodded and gave his big, wide smile. He then proceeded to look at her for a moment, but not in a way that was creepy or disturbing but in a way that showed admiration for she was in fact a pretty girl; and then he turned away and continued to smile.

For whatever reason, I couldn’t help but become immersed in wondering about this man. I wondered where he came from, I wondered if he had family, I wondered what his name was, I wondered if anyone took care of him, I wondered what his childhood was like and I wondered if he’d ever been in love and I as I continued to wonder, the train stopped at his drop off and he was gone.

Seeing this man for the second time at the train station literally took my breath away. Not only was it the first person in the six weeks I had been living in San Francisco that I saw one time and ran into for a second, but for some unexplainable reason, I was just excited that it was him! As he walked to wait for the train, he looked up at me and gave me his ear to ear smile and his token nod that read, “Hello, how are you?” I smiled back and said hello. He shook my hand and pointed to my face and gave me a thumbs up. I responded back with, “Thank you!” His smile became even wider, his eyes even brighter and I asked how he was doing, although I knew he couldn’t respond. He nodded happily. At that moment, I didn’t turn away. Instead I locked eyes with him and for the first time in my life I felt like I had a conversation through eyes and smiles all entirely at this point without words. As the train approached, the man with his shaky hand, took mine and slowly, shakily brought it up to his mouth and gave it a kiss, then another, then another. He then smiled and nodded and we made our way onto the train.

Due to the crowded seats on the train, it was at that point we separated. But, we were still in sight of each other. As I sat there with my heart warm, and tears welling up in my eyes- overwhelmed by what I had just experienced. I continued to watch my new friend as he smiled at those who walked by him. I began to feel protective over those who looked at him strangely and I wondered if I’d ever see him again. Then, as the person next to me left, my new friend got up from his seat, came over to me and pointed to the seat next to me. Would you like to sit here? I asked. He nodded and sat, and once again we met eyes. I told him he had a very nice smile and nodded what I gather was a, “Thank you.” He pointed to my mouth and gave me a thumbs up. He then took his hat off, pointed to my head and made a long hair motion and gave me a thumbs up. I responded again with a, “Thank you”. I asked him if he lived nearby and he nodded and motioned his hand up the hill. As we continued on, the train stopped and he pointed that this was his stop. He shot me his token ear to ear, bright and wide smile, took my hand once again and kissed it one last time. He smiled and limped away, down the stairs and out of the train. Then, just like something out of a movie, he tapped on my window and waved goodbye outside of my window, blew me a kiss and walked off into the dark. This time, tears didn’t just fill my eyes, they poured out of them.

As you can probably gather, my new friend (who I was never able to get the name of) was not your average man who could walk and talk like the average person. Because I’m not a professional in the medical field, I couldn’t tell you what his condition was, but it impaired his ability to speak, caused him to shake quite a bit, impaired his ability to hold things and impaired his walking significantly (perhaps Parkinsins?) But, whatever disease was taking over his body, most certainly had not taken over his spirit. I’ve never in my life felt so connected to one person and had one person steal my heart away so quickly without ever saying a word. I hope everyone can have the chance to meet as fantastic of a person as my new friend and I hope our paths cross again- until then, he’ll have my heart wherever he goes.