"Today, while on the bus returning to college, I got the opportunity to talk with a wonderful man named Dean. He lives in Jackson, Wyoming, and was a pleasure to talk with. We shared experiences about a lot of different topics, but I think the thing I most want to remember is his hopeful and no-nonsense attitude. There are great people in the world everywhere; all you have to be willing to do is say hello."

I wrote that paragraph over a year ago now at the beginning of 2025 as a journal entry that was quickly abandoned shortly afterwards. I never saw Dean again after he got off for his stop.

I wonder how he's doing. I wonder if he enjoyed his vacation he told me about that he was planning at the time.

There's no realistic way for me to be able to contact him again; we were just two individuals taking public transit to get where we needed to go, and happened to cross paths.

But I still think about him.

I wonder if he thinks about me.