This post is reprinted in full from Today at the Mission.

Tonight was Mr. S’ birthday. He is 71. 

There’s a group of musicians who come and play on Monday nights at our public meals program, and they sang Happy Birthday to him. Then, as they began the next song, one of the ladies in the group asked him to dance. I sat and watched them, as they danced among the tables, and tried - I really tried - to grasp the wonder and the beauty of it all, and I tried not to let the tears slip from the corners of my eyes, and I didn’t do either very well.

Years from now, someone might be reading this page, retrieved from a cache - just one of millions upon millions of such pages. I have no idea who you are, or why you’re reading this, or what your life and your world is like,  but I want you to know that tonight was Mr. S’ 71st birthday, and he came to our public meals program….

and he danced.

Wow.