On my run this morning, there was Linda coming up the hill with walking sticks.

Me: “I haven’t seen you for a long time! It’s great to see you!”

Linda: “Five months. It’s been five months. Richard got me walking again. He convinced me I could do the hills.”

Richard is a neighbor who always brings the true meaning of life to the surface of my awareness. Turns out he does it for everyone.

Linda told me about her bad fall five months ago. She broke her shoulder and her leg in four places. Her absence for a couple of months inspired Richard to go over to her place where he found her sitting in the same chair day after day.

Linda lives alone and was avoiding going to doctors because an ambulance costs her $250 each way. Richard took her to her doctor visits. And gradually convinced her to step outside. He brought her back to life. And now she was taking the hills. Rather energetically. And smiling.

Linda is older. Richard is in his mid-80’s and even older. He kayaks five days a week with his daughter and is strong as a bull. Filled with life force.

Richard’s colorful garden makes us all happy, flowers changing with the seasons. He shares his tree’s mouthwatering plums with all of us.

Richard grew up in the Bay Area and told me stories about how he and his brother would take their boat and go out fishing in the San Francisco Bay when he was young. Sometimes they would catch a large shark, and the shark would take off with their little boat racing across the bay at great speeds. Richard said it was one of the best joyrides of his life and it happened often.

Richard always has stories. And his stories always remind me of the true meaning of life.

One neighbor like this brings the whole neighborhood together.

Richard lives about a mile from my house. But it seems that everyone on the route knows Richard and has a Richard story.

Richard in his 80’s has more energy than most 20-year-olds. And more wisdom than most philosophers.

It’s a joy to see Linda again. She looks radiant. She said to me, “Thanks to Richard, I am reverse-aging. All this stuff about growing old, it all comes down to what you believe. And Richard made me believe again.”

Just hearing the story made me believe again too.

May you have a Richard in your life. Or possibly you are one. Thank you.

Love,

Ingrid