Today I was blessed with the honor of meeting our nation's oldest living veteran, Mr. Richard Overton. As some of you know, there was a thread posted a couple of weeks ago, telling the story of Mr. Overton, and how he celebrated his 109th birthday. The story told of Mr. Overton sharing hamburgers and shakes with his family and friends. This story also mentioned that some of them, including Mr. Overton, shared cigars while sitting on his front porch. Well, some geeks on here thought it would be cool to send Mr. Overton some cigars, to thank him for his service to our great country, and share our love of cigars with this wonderful man. I offered to collect the cigars, and deliver them in person, since I live in Austin...well, ok, beeuutaful Buda, but it's close enough! Once I got the cigars, and added some from myself and others, I realized one thing. I have never met this person, and did not know how I would be received when I knocked on his door. I prayed about this leading up to today, and around 9:30am, I had a feeling that this time, right now, was the time to go and try to see Mr. Overton. I pulled up to his house, said a quick prayer, and wandered up to his front door. I rang the doorbell, and though he answered in about 30 seconds, the wait seemed longer than that. Richard slowly opened the door, hesitated, looked up and down at this tattooed, long haired stranger standing on his porch, carrying a green HEB bag full of cigars, and slowly said "Hello". I told him why I was there, and we chatted for a few minutes. I gave him the cigars, and we talked a bit more. Then, thinking we were done, he invited me into his home so that he could share a bit of his life and history with me. I ended up staying for about an hour, listening to his stories, while he showed me pictures, medals, flags, newspaper stories, and so much more. I am in awe of what I experienced today, am truly, truly honored and humbled to have met this wonderful human being. Words cannot begin to describe my experience, but, when I left his house, I felt as though I was flying! My heart was so full of love and humility, I truly felt that I was high on life...and...I was! What a precious gift I was given today, and I thank all of you geeks who made this possible, with your generosity, kindness, and love. Man, what a wonderful gift, this thing we call life... :biggrin: :angel:
Absolutely Fantastic :dancing: :dancing:
Thanks for making the effort and sharing with us! He has our collective gratitude a hundred times over! :thumbsup:
That is really cool.
Awesome Brother. To bad you didn't get to smoke one with him but Awesome none the less.
Very cool story Brian, Very cool indeed. Thanx for sharing.
Great story Brian enjoyed reading it. :bigthumbs: :bigthumbs:
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Makes me proud to be a Geek. Well done Brian.
Richard Overton is a true hero.
Right on!! :bigthumbs:
Awesome of you Brian!
Wow.....:bigthumbs:
Very cool. Thanks for taking the time to make the delivery, and thanks for the pictures as well.
Thanks for letting us be flies on the wall, awesome!
That is so awesome thanks again Brian!!
That is really awesome Brian and thanks for the pics and the story! :bigthumbs: :bigthumbs:
Thanks for sharing, we should celebrate great stories like this
Awesome job Brian!! Thanks for the story, that was great. I can only imagine how humbling and inspiring it would be to meet this man on Memorial Day weekend :usa:
That is completely awesome! Thank you Brian for making his day.
:bigthumbs: :bigthumbs: Nice!
Well done Brian brought a tear to the eye well done again. Great to see kindness and recognition still abounds.
What a heartwarming story! Thanks for sharing, Brian
What an awesome experience that must have been. Thanks brother!
Well done Brian
That is truly awesome brother! I can only imagine the incredible stories he can tell. I could listen for hours myself.
Wow...this is just awesome!!! What an amazing and heartfelt thing to on this Memorial Day!!!
:bigthumbs:
Awesome, thanks for delivering, and sharing the story. Way better than a mail bomb. :thumbsup:
Wow you guys did amazing on this one. Kudos go to all of you and more specifically to Brian for caring.
It is way cool to be a geek.
Very awesome Brian!