February 5th, 2017 – 8:33am

On Saturday morning I was sitting with my brother and mother at a breakfast place when an old man walked in. I can be somewhat scatterbrained, and scooted my chair a few inches further away from the table around the same time he passed, which brought me slightly closer to him. Looking sideways, our eyes met, and he immediately smiled wide and dipped his head in friendly acknowledgement. His hat, a dark blue with gold lettering, indicated he was a World War II veteran.

I had so many questions I wanted to ask.

He seated himself in a booth and ordered his breakfast when the waitress came by, and I quashed the urge to ask what the last world war was like for him. I wanted to ask how old he was, if he’d seen any combat, and if he had any stories, any stories. In a social context, those questions weren’t really appropriate (he was eating eggs and toast).

Still, I wish I’d sat across from him and asked him to tell me everything.

I thanked him for his service before we left, but nothing beyond that. A missed opportunity, to be sure.

The name of today’s comic is ‘Providence’, and I’ll be posting it later today.