My Afternoon in a 55 plus Apartment Complex!

This past Monday, I took the day out of the office to spend it with my family. The kids had off school for President's Day, so we took off Sunday night to spend some time together in Lewisburg at Country Cupboard. It was a fun night of watching the Daytona 500 on the big screens in Damon's and then swimming with the kids at the hotel. On Monday morning we got up and headed off to Altoona to spend the day with my in-laws.

Now I must confess that the city of Altoona does little to excite me, but I do look forward to visiting with family especially since my in-laws moved from their home into a new and beautiful 55 plus apartment complex. After we had some lunch together, I excused myself and headed down to the resident's library to spend an afternoon working while Susan visited with her parents and my kids hung out with their cousins. It was there in the library my adventure began...

Shortly after I settled in and realized I had no wireless and no cell phone reception I opened up some documents I had been working on to finish them up. As I began, I noticed an elderly gentleman (found out he was 81) eyeing me up around the corner. He had a huge look of mistrust written across his face as I was obviously much to young to be a resident and hanging out in their library. As our eyes connected, he asked me from across the room if I lived there and if not what was I doing there? Now I must confess that I was slightly irritated at this point as I've never thought of myself as someone who looked like an axe murderer. But, by the grace of God I answered very politely recognizing that I was a guest in his home. After some brief interaction we came to the conclusion that he had gone to school with my father-in-law which made a connection.

After making that connection, I recognized that I now had a friend who did not hesitate to come out from the hallway, pull up a seat and talk up a storm. I must admit that some of his stories were quite interesting regarding his time in the military and times at business school with my father-in-law. The really cool part was that he asked me about my Lititiz Christian School sweatshirt which lead into a discussion on what I do for a living which then lead into a great discussion on spiritual matters.

This conversation cost me an hour out of my afternoon, but I headed up to my in-laws apartment for dinner with a thankful heart that God granted me a chance to LOL on a Monday afternoon in a place where I least expected it!