funny story

I went jogging at the park this morning as usual. I now am up to 3 laps without stopping (2.7 miles, yeah!) and then walk one time around for a cool-down. I often see the same people there and have started exchanging pleasantries with them. One middle-aged man, in particular, has been rather friendly and chats briefly with me as I (SLOWLY) jog by.

Today I happened to start my walking cool-down right at about the same place he was and we ended up walking around the path together, chatting about random stuff. I talked about moving to Memphis, my church activities, and being a new mom, while he talked about his night job, the Bible, and several good movies he had seen lately. His name is Ken. (Oh yeah, and he's bald and black, if that gives you a good visual.) When we had finished walking the path I said something about thanks for the talk and see you later. He told me I'd definitely see him again because he has to come to the park. I asked him if it was because of medical reasons (he mentioned other medical complications to me earlier) and he said, "No, it's because I like men." There are a lot of men at the park in the morning exercising! Needless to say, I was quite taken aback by his statement, not because he's gay, but because he mentioned it as such a funny point in our conversation and I wasn't expecting it. Anyhow, I said something like, "Ok, see you later" and walked away laughing to myself. It was almost as if he had to mention it before I left, just so I knew the next time we met.

I'm glad that I'll see him again, probably tomorrow, and now I know his name. He was very nice and I enjoyed chatting with him. I hope I just didn't misunderstand what he said, that's easy to do with thick Southern accents!