Take the time to talk to someone new

My parents had always loved going to yard sales and barn sales when they could over the summer, and this time was no different. We had been driving along windy backroads for nearly an hour while my mom was in the front seat trying to figure out which house it was that the barn sale was being hosted at this time around.

When we got there, my parents and I had gone our separate ways because my mom was on the hunt for more Pyrex dishes. In the meantime, I had come across a table filled with different camera parts, but what had caught my attention was an old video camera model. I had picked it up to look it over, and seemingly out of nowhere, an older gentleman had come up to me and asked what I had found. So, I held it up for him to see, and he broke out into the biggest smile I had ever seen.

He chatted animatedly about the camera; it had been his when he served for over thirty years in the Navy. During World War II, he bought the camera to take with him overseas so he could film what the different countries had looked like and send it back home to his family. I had probably spent close to an hour chatting with him until my parents had told me it was time to go. His stepdaughter had thanked me repeatedly for talking to him because he got bored during these things. I did end up buying the camera; it now sits on my bookshelf in my room.

Sometimes taking the time to listen and talk to someone new can lead to an amazing story of how something came into their possession.