Hunter did not wake up that morning thinking I was headed straight toward him. But I was.
At a Quick Trip forty miles outside of Atlanta, Georgia, I was fueling up for the trip.
And there he was.
Also fueling up.
However, he was in a Cracker Barrel catering van. He had the brown apron on, looked professional.
But something was drawing me to him. Not in a creepy way.
More in a supernatural, this must be fate kinda way.
At first I was not going to approach him. However…something told me I was supposed to.
Hunter being written on his Cracker Barrel apron made for an easy in to the conversation.
So, here’s how it went.
Me: Good morning. Do you mind if I ask you a question? I survey people all over the nation when I travel and I am a writer, so it’s not unusual for me to approach someone like this.
He: Okay
Me: If you weren’t delivering Cracker Barrel catering what would be your dream job? If I was a job genie and could make it happen, what would it be?
(Hunter did not even think about it. It was almost as though we had rehearsed this.)
He: Major league baseball.
Me: Okay. Tell me about it.
He: I had a scholarship to play baseball for a junior college and I had to make a decision between athletics or academics. Academics was a safer choice. I do not come from money and I have had to pay for everything growing up. Academics was just a safer choice.
Me: Hunter, how old are you?
He: Nineteen.
Me: My gosh! Are you serious?! Hunter, you are only nineteen years old and you have already given up your dream.
He: I know.
Me: Hunter, what if out of 7.7 billion people on the planet, on this day, at this time of day, I was supposed to come into your life for just a second and remind you not to give up on your dream?
He: Maybe.
Me: What if?
Without saying anything further I thanked him and walked away.
However, before he got back into the Cracker Barrel catering van, I said from a distance, “Hunter, what if?”
I will never see Hunter again but there was something about that exchange that was supposed to happen.
Maybe for Hunter…maybe for me.
Maybe I found my own calling.
Reminding people of theirs.
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