Earlier this week when I was running around my neighborhood, a man in a van turned into a driveway right in front of me, forcing me to stop. I waited to verify he knew I was there. He didn’t. When he started the reverse of his three point turn, he noticed me and immediately stopped and apologized through the glass. I waved that it was fine and ran around the front of the car, continuing on my journey. Later, as I was on the homestretch of my run on a different street, the same man was walking back to the van, parked along the sidewalk, clearly returning from a delivery. We recognized each other as he walked around the hood of the car to the driver’s door. Instantly he apologized and gestured with his hands; I had my earphones in and heard mere glimpses of his words as I staggered toward the end of my run. But I saw genuine emotion and communication in his face. As I pulled one of my earphones out to catch his communication, I smiled and gasped, “it’s no big deal, it’s alright, no problem.” I smiled and finished with “have a good day!” It sounds so silly, as so many impromptu interactions with strangers do. Maybe it was runner’s high, but in that moment I felt we shared an honest moment together. He made an honest mistake ten minutes ago that resulted in zero consequences, and by chance we met again shortly after. It was not a big deal. We were both just two people going about our day. And as I staggered toward the finish line of my run, I smiled, because I felt reassured there were good people in the world.