Esteban

If I had to identify the biggest change in myself in my past ten years in the Washington, D.C. area, it has been learning about and becoming completely comfortable with myself. The most notable result of this is that I feel comfortable speaking with just about anyone. Combine this result with a naturally out-going personality and I was bound to meet make casual friendships with many of the people in the path of my daily routine. That is how I came to meet Esteban.

About a year ago, I started riding the 3T bus from my house to the West Falls Church Metro Station. On many mornings, I would be waiting at the same bus-stop as a middle-aged gentleman with a dark complexion, wearing his green Giant-Supermarket uniform shirt. At some point, I overheard him speaking Spanish and eventually I imposed my unrefined Spanish skills on him to start a conversation. He was immediately friendly and kind, although still somewhat soft-spoken. We talked about his job at the supermarket and his family in Mexico. I told him about my school program and my job and a little about my family and my boyfriend, George. That is how I got to know Esteban.

Over the past few weeks, as my move to Hawaii gets closer, I have had to start the difficult process of saying my goodbyes. The goodbyes to my friends, both my close friends and more casual friends, I had anticipated. I am still working through the separation anxiety and I'm sure I will continue to feel the heartache over it when I arrive in Hawaii. The goodbyes I had not prepared for, however, were the ones like the one I had yesterday with Esteban.

I haven't take the bus since I moved closer to the Metro Station in April, but I still see Esteban all the time. I run into him nearly every time I go to the grocery store and I see him several times a week on my short walk to the metro station. Yesterday, we ran into each other and realized after our short conversation that we weren't going to see each other again. We might not ever see each other again. While I'm not headed out of D.C. for another couple weeks, Esteban is leaving D.C. for a month-long vacation to visit his family in Mexico. We talked a few moments about our respective upcoming travels: his to Mexico and mine to Hawaii. Of course there was the silent realization that our occasional encounters may never happen again. As we concluded our conversation, we exchanged the greeting "Peace." Receiving that greeting from my unlikely acquaintance actually gave me a bit of needed peace. And I truly hope Esteban will have the same for himself and his family.