When I turned 36, neighbors used to murmur, “At that age and still without a wife? He’ll be a bachelor forever!”
One chilly afternoon late in winter, I stopped by the local farmer’s market. That’s where I saw her — a thin woman in worn-out clothes, sitting near the parking lot with her hand out, asking for food. What caught my attention wasn’t her tattered coat, but her eyes — gentle and clear, yet filled with…