He was seventy years old and had nothing but a used bus ticket and four dollars in change in his pocket. And he became my friend.

I arrived in Montreal this past Saturday a few hours before Tina’s surprise party and found him, the old man, wandering alone in the bus terminal, confused.

I had time to spare and a relatively-decent knowledge of the city, so I asked him if I could help. He shoved a piece of paper into my hand and replied:

“Can you help me find my son?”

The old man hadn’t spoken to his son in twelve years. On that piece of paper was the return address corner of an envelope of a card his grandson had mailed to him over eight years ago.

Other than the address — which he later told me he had clutched in his hand the entire trip from Toronto to Montreal — the man had arrived with nothing but a used bus ticket and four dollars in change in his pocket.

After a quick cup of coffee and some web searching to make sure the address was still valid, we got in the nearest taxi and headed on our way to find the old man’s son.

I waited in the taxi as the old man walked up the porch steps. It wasn’t his son that answered the doorbell, but instead a boy in his late teens.

His grandson.

They exchanged a few words on the porch — I couldn’t make out the conversation — and then the young man took the old man into his arms. They embraced for over a minute before the boy took his grandfather’s hand and led him into the house. Just before closing the door, they both paused and looked back at me: a look that told me that everything was going to be okay.

As we drove off, the taxi driver looked at me and said, “that was a good thing you did for that man.”

I smiled and nodded, thinking to myself that instead, it was a good thing that the old man had done for me. He reminded me that no matter what the circumstance, if you are willing to put in everything you have and go all out to reach your goal, everything is going to turn out okay.

Even if you only have a a used bus ticket and four dollars in change in your pocket.

(Adorable photo by Christopher Michel.)