Folding the last few freshly washed towels used for wiping down fitness equipment, I never heard the door open due to the blaring music from one of the latest top hits of 1999. I was a broke college student working in the university’s weight room when I looked up and saw a somber, overweight woman standing before me.

She stood patiently waiting, and when I finally spotted her, I jumped like a scared rabbit. She chuckled.

“My bad!” I reached for her ID to get her checked in. “Where ya been?” I asked.

She tilted her head and squinted her eyes. “What do you mean?"

“You’d been so consistent. You were coming every day, but I haven’t seen you in nearly two weeks. I like your new shoes, by the way!”

She smiled, we exchanged pleasantries, and with no fanfare, she went on about her workout.

~~~~~~~~~~

I gave that conversation no more thought than any other conversation with any other member until a semester later. Someone brought an article into one of our staff meetings to show us where a woman had written the newspaper about how she was “ready to give up on everything” when a nice young man working at the university rec center “noticed” her and it encouraged her to “keep trying.”

I never told the others, but with what was said, I knew exactly who it was and the day she was talking about.