Last week my friend Aaron Milic posted the most delightful story on Facebook and he gave me permission to share it here. Aaron had visited The Bay at Yonge and Queen and shared a picture of a Christmas display with the caption, “Way too early, Bay.” Here’s what happened after, in Aaron’s words:
“Way too early, Bay.”
This story is too good not to share.
After I posted my picture of the Christmas decorations at the Bay and said it was “way too early,” I had some dinner in the Eaton Centre food court: a giant Kale salad.
I got a nice seat at a table for four. An older man with a long white beard, round glasses, a fedora, and hearing aid sat down right next to me, and said in a slight German accent, “Ah, I should have gotten what you have there.” He just had a big cookie in his hand. I pointed to where I got the salad from, and he said, “I haven’t been down here in many years; I live up north now.”
He then went on to talk about how much Yonge Street has changed, how it seemed cleaner and safer now. He asked me, “So what do you do for recreation?” and I told him I sing in an a cappella quartet and that my main job is DJing weddings.
He said, “Ah, you are in the arts, as am I. I play the uh…” and he started turning his left hand slowly in a circle and I said, “Oh, you’re an organ grinder?” He smiled and said ,”Yes, you guessed it! That’s what I do.” I said that my father was born in Germany and had mentioned the organ grinders, and he seemed happy that my father was German. He talked about Germany a bit and his profession.
As I finished my salad, I said, “Well, next year my group is doing a Christmas concert. If it seems appropriate, maybe we could hire you to be a part of it.” He replied, “That sounds like fun, but as long as it’s not too close to Christmas. I’m always very busy in December.”
He reached into his wallet and handed me the card pictured below. I said, “Oh, your name is Klaus? My name is Aaron.” And he just smiled, as if he already knew my name, shook my hand, winked, and walked away.
I don’t usually encourage children to read this blog. (In fact, I discourage it.) But for this, I’ll make an exception.
Aaron Milic is a Toronto-based wedding DJ at Impact Entertainment and is part of the a cappella singing group, After Hours. I’m so glad he took the time to tell us such a charming story.