Last night, I got a request to pick someone up from the area at the foot of the Griffith Observatory. When I arrived it was very dark and on the corner, stood a small-framed young woman who was waiting for me. When she got into the car, I realized that she did not speak any English, only Japanese. I proceeded to take her to her requested destination at The Griffith Observatory, but was not allowed to go up the hill because the observatory was closed.
I tried to tell her that I could not take her where she wanted, but I could take her somewhere else. She could not understand me. At that moment, I remembered that Google has a Google translator so I said what I wanted to tell her into Google translator and handed her my phone. She understood me then and she smiled. She updated the destination on her phone to her home address and pointed at her phone and said, “My house.” I put on 94.7 FM for some soothing music and we began our journey to her house. I smiled at her in the rearview to let her know that everything was okay. When we arrived at her home, she gave me her phone and when I looked at it, it said, “Thank you for bringing me to my home. I am glad you came.” I was almost moved to tears, but I did not want to frighten her so I smiled the biggest smile I had and said “You’re welcome.” As she closed the door, she waved at me, bowed and smiled.
This proves to me that any obstacle can be overcome. The problems that we are facing as a nation and even as individuals are not unsolvable. We have to be compassionate and we have to care like it matters because it does. Thank you for reading my story. Have a great day! #uplifting #stories #tapintothepossibilities #thewave #google
I picked up a family from Kingdom Hall. As soon as I pulled into the parking lot, I had a random thought, “I am so glad that I always answer the door when Jehovah’s Witnesses ring my doorbell really early in the morning.” I have to admit that I used to see them outside putting their visiting strategy together and I would hide inside my apartment so that I did not have to stand there, barely awake, and try to listen out of respect as they asked me questions. I finally began to think that it could not be easy to knock on so many closed doors so I decided to open my door when they rang my doorbell. The thought left my head as quickly as it had entered. Once I arrived, I watched as the young man struggled to put the car seat into the back seat of my car. I joked, “You should get a degree for figuring those things out. “ We both laughed as he added, “…or at least a certificate.” Once everyone was inside my car, I turned and I smiled at the little girl sitting in the back seat; she just stared at me, without the slightest hint of a smile. I kept smiling, turned around and started to drive. Her mother tried to explain that she needed a nap and was probably grumpy because it had been a long afternoon. All of a sudden, I heard a small voice from the back seat demand, “I want to hear some music!” Her mother hardly waited for the end of the young girl’s command before she said in a melodic tone that almost sounded like she was singing, “What did I say about how to ask for things nicely?” The little girl, as if she already knew she had used the wrong tone, quickly corrected herself and asked in a sweeter, softer tone, “I want to hear some music, please.” I reached for the radio and a slight panic smacked me as I realized that most of the songs on the radio are…well…shall we say…for grown-ups. I was truly under a great deal of self-imposed pressure at this moment. I chose a country station to which the little girl abruptly replied, “I don’t like that!” Her mother must have looked at her because she added in a low whisper, Thank you!” I then chose a jazz station and she quickly said with a tone that sounded like she had a pout on her face, “That’s scary!” We all chuckled softly as I turned to another station where the song’s intro was beautiful, but I knew it was getting ready to change into a “not suitable for children” song so I quickly changed it. The father said, “That sounded like a nice song!” to which I replied, “It starts out nice, but it does not stay that way” and I giggled under my breath. It became my personal mission to find some appropriate music for this adorable girl before we reached their destination. Finally, as we pulled up to their street, Whitney Houston’s voice came rushing out of my speakers like a melodic wind that filled the car “Oh, I wanna dance with somebody…” When I stopped, I turned around, crossed my fingers, and asked, “Do you like this song?” Without the slightest smile, she nodded her head up and down as she began to kick the back of the front seat to keep time with the music (yeah, she was kicking my brand new seats). I ignored her kicks because I was so ecstatic that I had found a song that she liked. Then I started to sing to her. That is when I saw the little corners of her mouth make a slight turn upward almost as if it was against her will. “A smile, I finally got a tiny smile” I thought as I kept singing. By this time, she was nodding her head and kicking her feet in time with the music. I felt like clapping…wait, I did clap as I kept singing to her. Her father gently lifted her out of the car seat, but she looked back at me the whole time. My mission was complete and I knew she would not soon forget that ride. Feeling overjoyed, I drove down the street rocking my head from side to side, bouncing in my seat and singing through a huge smile, “Oh, I wanna dance with somebody…with somebody who loves me….”
The other day, I was at The Beverly Center with my neighbor and we were waiting on an elevator. It took a long time coming and two ladies walked up and waited with us. They became impatient and started looking for an escalator. One of the ladies was leaning on a cane so I am sure that she counted every one of her steps. We waited for a few minutes and then I said, “Have faith, it’s coming.” Then the woman without the cane said. “I don’t have any faith that this elevator is coming” as she looked around the garage for another option. One second after she finished her sentence, the elevator bell pinged and the doors slowly opened. She looked back at me and giggled. I smiled back and nodded my head up and down as if to say yes and said, “You should always have faith and when you want to let it go, hang in there a few moments more.” We all laughed as the elevator went up.
Sitting in AAA:
Me: “I am an Uber driver so I can only wait until 5:00.”
Man: “Aren’t you afraid of picking up someone strange?”
Me: “No. Before I go out, I pray for me, my passengers, my car, our journey, the other drivers and passengers, people I know and people I don’t know.”
Man: “What about the drivers who commit those crimes?”
Me: “They probably don’t pray before they go out.”
What was priceless was the smile on the face of another man nearby who overheard what I said.
T.A.P. into the Possibilities 