For the life of me I cannot figure out what caused me to think of this little story but anyway hope you enjoy!

 This happened a- ways back, it was a Thursday, the forecast was for warm temperatures, al little humidity, and a chance of rain in other words a typical forecast in Kiawah in august. So we decided that we would take our yearly journey to Charleston, to bask in the sunshine, while walking along the gold lined streets while admiring all the glorious architecture that the low country has to offer. I was so excited that I was having a difficult time caging my emotions (after all you-all that is one of my favorite things to do when I am at Kiawah), I could not stop thinking about the splendid time I would have browsing the store fronts (Gucci, Louie, white and black, saphoria, etc.) while drinking my cup of decaf coffee from Starbucks, while wiping the sweat off of my brow! Can you honestly think of anything better to do? As I was sitting in the car continuing to contain my emotions, my passengers started to arrive and then after about 10-15 minutes the last one got in and we were ON OUR WAY, to the great adventure!

As we proceeded down the tree lined lanes we decided that we were going to do something a little different this year, one group was going to stroll the streets and partake in tours of the historic homes, while the other group was going to visit the high end shopping district. This was fine with me so we found a parking tenement, I place the vehicle in to an expansive (or is it expensive) parking space and we finalized our plans and set about on our journey.

We went and purchased our house tour passes and we chose the tour with 4 homes, three of them were on the south side of the city and the 4^th was on the north side, we headed south! I decided that I was not going to participate in the actual tour of the houses, and instead I was just going to gaze at the facades of the buildings. We finished the three houses on the southern side of the town, and began our treck north. Along the way the clouds began to build and it felt like sooner than later we might get some much needed rain.  We keep looking at the map and wondered our way thru the peaceful streets of Charleston until we arrived at our destination. The girls went into the house and I then continued my exploration of the city. I stumbled on this small section of town that was about 200 yards wide and about a half mile long. Along both sides were mature trees, running down the center was a flagstone sidewalk with moss growing in the cracks,  park benches and green grass as far as the eye could see.  I was reveling in the sunshine and cool breeze, when seemingly out of know where came this tremendous deluge of moisture,(who could ever have guess that was going to happen) what was I going to do? I could use my umbrella (what man would carry and umbrella) , I could continue to walk or even run to a shelter ,  or I could run under the trees and get some shelter, I chose to go for the trees. I was not the only one in the park as you could imagine on a Thursday afternoon, so I was soon joined by a couple of homeless guys. Needless to say, I was a little concerned at first, because they had to have known that I was a tourist, they probably thought that I was loaded (money! it was not Rex Time!) yet I would never expect them to know that I have no money they wife has it all. I then looked down each side of the tree line and to my amazement there was not another soul in the park! I was not sure what to do! Should I be rude and just keep walking? Should I go find a different tree to stand under? Should I stay there and trust three guys who carried on their person everything that they presumably owned? Should I pull out my cell phone and call for help?

 So we began a long conversation, which ended up very educational and at the same time was quite entertaining for me. In other words they were really great guys, they all were happy with their lot in life, loved the city, were deeply religious went to mass every day, as they said “We live the word of God” . To make ends meet they would  do a odd jobs, as they said we don’t need all of the fancy houses, we don’t need all of the trappings of everyday life, we just need our time to help others who need us, they certainly left me with the  impression that they loved life!

I noticed that the hour had passed and the rain stopped and the sun was now out in its full splendor, so I said my good-bye to my new found friends, and went and met the girls.

Words of wisdom:   You can only see others as clearly as you see yourself.