She was sitting in my spot and that kind of took me aback. But I proceeded to enjoy the fresh air that I came out there for. 

“Hi” 

“Hi” 

Came the quick rapid fire of initial greetings. She is the building manager and we have passed each other in the hallway plenty of times. 

“Where are you from?” She asked and I replied with my convoluted history. 

“Where are you from?” I asked after a period of silence at the end of my history. 

She was from Bosnia. She proceeded to tell me about how her life was before the war and how her husband missed his opportunity to play football in Switzerland. She didn’t want to leave. Their life was good at the time. Certainly much better than it would have been had he gone to Switzerland to play soccer. She then said

“But who would have known that war was going to break out?”

No one knew then and we compared notes as to how life is for us here as immigrants living in this land. It used to be affordable but then over time the cost of living has shot up to a stratospheric level while wages have remained stagnant. Her husband is now a painter a good one but he never thought that this was what he was going to be doing here. Her family back in Europe is feeling the pinch as well. The euro doesn’t go as far as it used to. 

It got a bit chilly sitting there in the shade. The sun hadn’t moved across the sky far enough to warm this spot with its warm rays. I kind of like this time here in the morning sitting there in that spot. It gives me time to compose.