Best of Metropolitan Diary

The NY Times has this small weekly column called Metropolitan Diary. People write in funny/touching stories about the city and the most interesting get published.

They posted the “best of 2024” list today, voted on by readers. Click the link to read them all, but this was the winner:

Dear Diary:

I was in the habit of taking walks in Carl Schurz Park on early summer mornings, when the sun cast a lovely orange glow over the quiet East River esplanade.

My walk was identical every day. What also became routine was seeing the same older man sitting on the same bench each morning. He held a flat tweed cap in his hands, always gazing wistfully out onto the water.

One morning, I decided to talk to him.

“Hello,” I said, approaching the bench where he was sitting.

He looked up.

“How do you do?” he said.

“I don’t mean to bother you, but I see you here every day,” I said.

“Is that right?” he said.

“And if you don’t mind me asking, I was curious why you sat on this same bench?”

He turned away with a deep sigh.

“My wife and I used to sit on this bench together for 51 years,” he said.

“Oh,” I said, feeling badly. “I’m sorry.”

“And for some bizarre reason she likes to sit over there now,” he said, gesturing toward a woman 20 feet to the left of us.