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.
Tag Archives: strangers
Beyond the Smile
Wonderful things are happening in my life today; allow me to share. This morning while at the post office, I met a woman who had shaved off all of her hair. What I noticed right away was her smile and the light in her eyes; she was beautiful. I could not help, but be uplifted by her mere presence. We had a great conversation and I felt encouraged by her. She called the moles on my face “extra special” which was touching since I don’t always like them. She also said that I will be a great defender. She then told me that she was going to school to be a nurse practitioner and that she had won her battle with cancer. What?!?! Just yesterday I decided to do the run for her 5K Run and Friendship Walk. I gave her my T.A.P. into the Possibilities card because we were meant to know each other. After that, blessings just kept coming and I am paying it forward. I have raised the goal on my donations page twice because people are donating. I really feel blessed despite the challenges that I am determined to conquer.
Going My Way
I had decided to go to the 6:00 a.m. service at Faithful Central Bible Church today, but when I woke up at 5:00 a.m., it was raining, cold and dark and I was still tired so I set my alarm clock for a later time so I could go to the 10:00 a.m. service. On my way to the church, I saw a guy running down La Brea Avenue with his hand in the air as if he was trying to hail a taxi. It was not a taxi, but the bus which moved away from him to the middle lane and kept on moving down the street. I felt that I should give him a ride and I was not worried about being late for church because of it. I turned around and pulled up on his side of the street. I asked him if he was trying to catch the bus and he said, “Yes.” I asked him if I could take him to his destination. He saw the Uber sticker in my window and said, “Are you Uber?” I told him that I was not working and could give him a ride without charging him. He smiled and got into my car. He asked me where I was going and I told him, “I am going to Faithful Central.” I then asked him where he was going and he replied, “The same place.” We both laughed and rode on down the street, talking and laughing. When we arrived, he pulled out $10 and before he could hand it to me, I said, “I can’t take that, just do something nice for someone else, that is how I do it.” He asked, “Is that what you want me to do?” and I said, “Yes, that is how I do it.” He said, “OK and I want you to take this money. That’s how I do it.” I chuckled and accepted his money. We were walking through the parking lot to the church when he stopped and said, “Oh no, I think I left my phone in your car and then he apologized profusely while we were walking back to the car. I kept telling him not to worry because I needed the exercise. We both laughed. He got his phone and we walked back and entered the church with the choir and congregation singing. As I went to my seat, I was grateful that I was in the right place at the right time. May that continue to happen. As for the $10, I am going to get ten single dollar bills and keep them in the door pocket so that when I drive pass people on the street who are asking for money, I don’t have to fumble around in my bag and miss the opportunity to give them their dollar.
AAA Discusssion
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.
A Song for Twenty Strangers
I was standing in line chatting with the customers and humming along with Muzak. When I got up to the window, I heard a very tall and commanding man behind me say, “I thought I heard someone singing.” I turned to him and said with a big smile, “I was humming. You could hear me?” He shook his head in acknowledgement and asked me if I could sing as good as Howard Hewett, who was singing, “This Ring” over the sound system. I smiled at him and said, “Oh, I can sing!” He then said, if you can sing better than Howard, I will give you $20 (wait for it…). The teller was busy typing into the computer so I had time to have the conversation. The man then started to talk about the best fried chicken was…I interrupted and said, “Don’t try to change the subject, I was getting ready to sing.” The people in line laughed and waited for me to begin. I started to sing, “Who’s Loving You,” as I slowly walked toward him and reached for the $20 that he had peeled from a large wad of cash. The people in line were smiling and the tellers were smiling and the manager walked out to listen. The man gave me the $20 after I successfully hit the high note at the end of the song and said, “I bet she didn’t know that she would be getting this $20 at the credit union today.” To which I replied, “No, I didn’t, but I did know that I would receive a blessing today because God is good!”. Everyone looked happy even the people who were standing in line with serious faces before I sang. I walked out waving and said, “I’ll be here all week!” I could hear people laughing as I walked out. As I drove off, a lady was walking to her car and she gave me this huge smile and I smiled back. I have been a member of this credit union since 1981 and this is the first time I have sung in their lobby. Who knows, it might not be the last.
T.A.P. into the Possibilities 