Mo the Buffalo meets Dan Fogelberg

"There's a buffalo at the bank Honey. Wanna go see it?" Well now, that's not a line you hear everyday - or every year for that matter. Yet, such was the line I heard from my wife as she called me on her way home from work. After laughing a bit, I said "Sure, why not." It had been a long, stressful day at school and I needed something unusual to get over the funk I was heading to. Seeing a buffalo at a bank sure fit the bill for being unusual. So, when my wife came home, off we went to the Plains Capital Bank building just down the road.

When we arrived, we saw a large group of people all dressed up in VERY nice suits (the guys) and dresses (the ladies). As we walked past these nicely dressed people, my wife started hanging back a bit - somewhat embarrassedly. It wasn't due to how we were dressed (we were both in business casual). I think it was just being nervous as to not knowing what was going on. Me? I was in my determined mood. I had come here to see a buffalo, and daggumit, I was going to see a buffalo. (Hey, as I said before, it was a long, stressful day).

As we stopped not too far away from the buffalo pen (Mo the Buffalo is the corporate symbol for the Plains National Bank Corporation), I told my wife we should ask someone what was going on. Why all the very well dressed people? I received my answer in a way I wasn't expecting - for out from the crowd I heard my name shouted. Turning to the source of the voice I saw someone making a beeline towards us - a pretty young woman who gave me a good hug while having a big smile on her face. Suddenly, my moment of seeing a buffalo turns into a moment from a Dan Fogelberg song (think SAME OLD LANG SYNE from 1980).

Heather, the young woman's name, is a good friend who helped me get through my communication classes at University of Texas - Arlington - UTA (where I received my Teacher's Certification). I hadn't seen her since the last day I attended school there over a year ago. Yet, she was someone who I thought of often. She had met my wife during my time UTA and was a confidant, study partner, and generally a friend in need at a time I was struggling with parts of my life. I would have never made it through UTA without her assistance and that of the other people we normally hung out with. To see her again, to have the chance to catch up, was a big morale booster for me. It was wonderful to hear her marriage and her career were going well. We talked for a few more minutes, then it came time to depart.

As I got into the car to go home, I started feeling envious. Here I was - a 47 year old man who is struggling to find a job that will pay me more than $100 dollars a day, who is trying to start a business as a Public Speaker/Motivator, fighting to keep his family's financial head above water let alone move forward - talking with someone who is much younger than me who has a well paying career being the HR Generalist/Staffing Specialist. It just hurt that after all of these years, I felt like I was watching my friends move forward while I was standing still. It hurt for a few minutes.

After a while of wallowing in my self pity party, I started hearing a small still voice in my heart. The voice reminded me that God doesn't work that way. I had just received a huge blessing - and I wasn't seeing it. I came to see a buffalo, and ended up seeing someone who thought so well of me that she shouted out my name in a crowd and took the time to talk with me. She is someone who thought well enough of me to give me a hug. At a time when I'm struggling - God gave me a reminder that I have touched some lives in a positive way, and now those people are my friends. They are my friends even when I don't see them for awhile. As I saw that aspect of all of this, my soul warmed up.

Okay, this is a bit sappy - maybe. But then - sometimes God gives us the sappy moments to remind us that being sappy is okay. It is human, and it is a gift that we can feel uplifted when we let others remind us that they think we are special to them. We need these moments more than we care to admit I believe. Think what you want - I'll take this sappy moment for what it was to me - a blessing, a moment of uplifting, and a great chance meeting to see someone who is the type of friend all of us need and need to be.

Mr. Keb