I've always been told (and believe) there are angels everywhere ... angels in disguise so to speak. Today I got off work, and went to visit a friend (Terry). I dropped Rodney off in Gaithersburg and work, and drove a few exits down to Germantown where Terry lives. Although tired, I had agreed to come and visit and we would go shopping since he recently had gotten a new job. He had a return to make at WalMart (not a store I like ... at all), but I agreed to go. That was our first stop and let me tell you, that place was BUSY!!!! People everywhere, and like WalMarts always are ... junk everywhere you look. Never can they keep the isles clean without putting a display of somekind there. For me, it was just too much to deal with. My anxiety was high to begin with, then being without sleep ... I just couldn't deal. So I told him I would be outside, to take his time. On my way out, I got a call from Rodney telling me he would be going to New York for work. Not a big deal, but for whatever reason at that time it was a HUGE deal. I got upset and we had a slight arguement on the phone because he was to pick up a futon I had gotten the next morning. So I could kiss that goodbye because if we didn't get it then, someone else would. Really it was my lack of sleep and anxiety getting the best of me, and he was the unfortunate one that took the blunt of it.
I hung up my phone and started to head to my car. The ding a ling (that's what my mom and I have always called the people that ring for the Salvation Army around the Christmas season) said, "honey, are you okay?" I smiled and gave the generic yes answer. She looked at me and said, "Well you don't look okay, you seem frustrated" I smiled again, and stated I was extremely frustrated, and tired. I then explained where I lived (about an hour and a half away if not more) and I had worked the night before. She told me it sounded like I needed to just go to my car and cry it all out, then go home and get some much needed rest. If only things were that easy.
I stood there while waiting for Terry talking to her ... I think she needed someone to talk to as much as I did. She told me about her sister who is batteling breast cancer and has small children. She has been going there (30 minutes away) taking care of her and her kids in the morning and evening before going home. On top of that she drives her husband to work in Baltimore, and has a job and does the ringing. What a full plate!!! It made my troubles seem extremely small compaired to hers. She's being faced with losing her younger sister and being left with her kids to raise. More than I care to bare! I would absolutely die if I lost my sister!!!!!
It really made me think how there truely are people out there that touch our lives, make us put things into perspective, let us know we're not alone. She was one of them.
I'll probably never see her again, but I know I'll never forget her.
