Thank You Mr. Green

I've been thinking about making this post for a long time.
Everytime I go for a walk I think about it.
Mr. Green was my neighbor for a few years when I was a kid. He had three daughters and one of them was my age. We were friends and would often be found roaming the neighborhood together.
It's important to note that I was a fat, unpopular kid and my mother (God love her) had no sense of style which was evident in the clothes she made me wear. I was generally a happy kid, I still am- I just lacked self confidence and direction. I had very few responsible adult role models. In fact most of the adults in my life were decidedly UNresponsible.
Mr' Green seemed to have it all together. He had a nice clean home, a good marriage, nice kids and he was smart. One of the things that really stick out in my mind is his eagerness to do things with his kids. Especially school projects- he would almost get giddy about it.
Now that I think about it, he is very near the type of parent I am now trying to be.
One late summer day, just after the beginning of the school year I walked down our street. I must have been around 12. My mother had just cut my hair. Basically she butchered my curly head and I was walking around with some kind of seventies fro that, in 1986, was very UNcool.
So here I was, walking down my street, staring at the sidewalk and counting the lines as I passed them.
To my left I hear, "Hey, Michelle."
I look over to see Mr. Green walking from the driveway to his house.
I wave.
He then says "Keep your head up." and walks in the house.
Simple, I know. But I've carried that statement with me for more that 20 years.
Mr. Green passed away a few years later and his family moved away. I saw his eldest daughter once again when we were around 20.
I wish I had kept in touch.