Five years ago, I wrote a newspaper article about riding to school with my oldest son. Here’s the link.

That article featured an older gentleman we encountered on the bike trail. We’ve seen him periodically since then, walking the trail, sometimes with his lady friend and sometimes without her.

This morning, we saw him again, walking with two ladies, one on each arm. They gave us big waves as we rode by, and called out “have fun at school!”

We waved and continued our ride, playing our “If you had a” game as we rode.

I’m not exactly sure where this tale is going, but it struck me how cool it is that this guy on the trail has become a part of our life. He’s like an incredibly interesting extra in a movie. We really don’t know anything about him, but we love that he’s there.

At first, I thought it might sound egotistical to say he’s an extra in our movie, but it’s not. After all, in his movie, we’re the extras.

I just hope we’re as interesting .