Imagine a scene from a movie opening montage. Cafe. Wide shot dissolve day after day after day. Mixed in with baristas and new customer faces, repeat customers switch scene to scene in their different clothes, different seats, different hair styles and jackets as seasons change. One of these people is a writer. Another is a proofreader.
Yesterday I met the proofreader.
I go to the cafe to work. It’s a focused bunker for me. I usually don’t talk with anyone except the baristas. The proofreader goes there to read. Not proofread. Just read. I’ve seen him many times before, but we’d never met. Until yesterday.
After our conversation and before returning to my work, I quickly wrote this:
What am I to learn from the man, 88, who I met today at the coffee shop?
Larry.
Ace proofreader.
Interested in spirituality.
Educating himself on what happens to a soul when we die.
As I wrote the sentence above, he leaned over for an oh-by-the-way afterthought to say, “This meeting is not by chance. It’s meant to be.”
He has a childlike excitement about him, but he’s also poised and unassuming. His eyes twinkle behind their shy veneer.
Our conversation started when I sat down and beamed, “What are you reading?”
He lit up and told me all about his book, that it’s the third in a trilogy about the soul’s journey. It’s about the afterlife, and past lives. He said, “Read this, and you will not fear death.”
He said he was a teacher for 30 years, and after that, a proofreader for the courts.
“I can’t fix anything, I’m not a DIY home project guy. I’m not worth a darn at anything — except! — proofreading. I am an excellent proofreader. It’s an important job. But it's a low-paying job.”
He said he recently realized he’s been afraid of success. All his life, afraid of success. He showed me a section he’d underlined in his book that says as much, and he said, “That’s me. That’s my life. I’ve never earned a lot of money. I’ve always done low-paying jobs.”
He searched my eyes for a reaction.
Then his index finger traced another section, lower on the page. Looking up from the passage, he was showing me something else he underlined: “That doesn’t mean my life is without purpose.”
He appeared sad at first, but then restored. Even energized. He said he's always struggled with confidence.
It seems like something he's trying to address now.
It's never too late.
I had a hit of intuition that he was a spirit teacher.
Lesson: Don't wait to believe in yourself. Don't wait until you're 88.
I couldn't help but be energized by our conversation. He didn't know it, but the word "proofreader" has been floating like a typewriter ribbon through my mind these past few weeks... wondering if I might look into finding proofreaders for current or future projects.
Larry told me spirits visit us at specific moments in our lives. And this was a spiritual meeting.
I agree.
We exchanged numbers, and I’m going to interview him. Would you like to hear more about Larry and his life and lessons?