A Lasting Impression

Why an elderly gentleman has me thinking about community

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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about community. About family, friends, neighbours, and even people on the periphery of our lives. Like the elderly gentleman whom I used to see when I drove to work each day, and who left a lasting impression.

I’d turn the corner and see him and his wife, waiting with a child for the school bus. I thought they might be helping a neighbour who had to leave for work before their child’s bus came. They looked like the kind of people who would do that. Sometimes, I’d arrive just as the yellow school bus was pulling away. Once their charge was safely on his way, the couple walked a few houses from the corner to their brick bungalow.

He was tall, slim and ramrod straight, but his gait was stiff. She was a small woman who looked even smaller beside him. She’d turn in at their front path, but he always kept walking. Even on rain-battered or blustery cold days.

In winter, he wore a navy jacket that fell to his knees, and a black Elmer Fudd cap with shearling flaps pulled over his ears. He took small, careful steps, and his long arms didn’t swing freely like a younger man’s. They hung straight down by his sides, his gloved fingers splayed and pointing down.

My schedule has changed, and I don’t see him much anymore. I wonder if he still waits with his wife and the little boy for the school bus. I also wonder if he ever noticed me and asks himself what happened to the lady in the red Toyota.

I’m not sure why he stands out in my mind. Their home is too far from ours to be neighbours, but too close to be strangers. Maybe it’s because he was a regular part of my daily routine, or maybe he reminded me of my father, gone now for more than two decades. A little taller, but with the same aura of quiet dignity that men of their generation seem to have.

When I do drive by their house, I look for him walking stiffly down the street, pushing his lawnmower or shovelling his front path. I’m always reassured when I spot him. His familiar figure makes me feel that some things stay the same, even as the world changes at a speed that feels too hard to sustain.

I haven’t seen him for a while now, though, and I hope he’s OK. In some ways, it feels strange to care about someone I’ve never even spoken to. In other ways, it feels perfectly natural. Recent events have shown us that we need to come together. No matter where we live, what we believe, how old we are, whom we love, or the colour of our skin, we need to look out for each other. If we don’t, who will?

All this has got me thinking that I don’t know that many people in my own community very well. I’m going to fix that. The next time I see that elderly gentleman, I’m going to wave or stop to say hello.

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Many thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read. I’m curious. Is there someone in your neighbourhood who left an impression on you? Please let me know in the comments.

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