My Walk with Milton

i wish i had a picture of my afternoon walk in the snow today. i really wanted to take a picture but i thought pulling out my cell phone and snapping a picture would have ruined the magical moment. have you ever had that happen? have you ever had a moment so magical that taking a picture would have ruined it despite your intense desire to capture the moment forever? some moments, like this one, will be captured forever in memory only. And, of course, in the shirt that will hang in my closet.

The story:

I was on MLK this afternoon and met a smallish, old man named Milton. I noticed that Milton was wearing a snap shirt. I have been wanting a snap shirt. I asked Milton where he shopped and he told me he had not been shopping in over 20 years. But back in the day he did all his shopping at Montgomery Wards.
I admired his snap shirt and told him I had been looking for one of my own but didn’t want anything trendy. He told me that if I would hold his hand and walk a block in his company that I could have the shirt off his back. We walked and talked and then he stripped off his shirt (with a snap snap snap) and handed it to me. It was a magical moment as the enormous snow flakes whirled down around us. (Don’t worry he had a very warm jacket and an undershirt to keep him plenty warm.)
While Milton is a small man he is still a bit larger than me. His shirt is a tad big on me but that detail is comforting to me. It feels manly. It will remind me of my hand in hand walk with Milton. It fills my need. I am happy.