used

I am the type of person who always wants to pull over and help people when they are in an accident. Usually though, by the time I pass it, there are other people there already, and I get convinced that my presence is probably more of a nuisance than a help.

Today though, was an exception.


For some reason, I got it into my head that I start work at 2:30 instead of 3. I do not know why. I know fairly well that 3 is when I start working at the hospital because I absolutely dread it and never feel like I have time to get anything done before going to work.

Yet, there I was hoping out of the shower at 1:15 and thinking, oh my, I have to leave in 15 minutes! The plan was to show up a half hour early to get training on a new system at work.

So I got into my car at 1:30 and started driving to work, aiming to get there at about 2... since, apparently, I was convinced that I actually started work at 2:30. Again, this makes no sense to me but in retrospect.


I am driving along my merry way, veering off on to 100/High St to head into West Chester. As I pull up to the intersection at Boot, I see an old lady trying to push her car off to the side. A quick glance around assures me that strangers are really not all that kind. I look at the clock and think DARN IT I was supposed to get in early! I drive around her, make a right on to Boot, and park off to the side. I run down to the lady and offer help.

Meanwhile, some guy in a truck sees her and has simultaneously asked if she needed help. We look at each other and smile, and proceed to try to figure out what the deal is.



This lady is probably in her late 60s.. make up somewhat of a mess, with too-pink rouge covering her entire cheek. Her hair is brown and in a french braid, which is covered by a round blue felt hat. Her hat matched her felt jacket, which was covering faded overalls. She asks me if I am a nurse. I say no, but that I work in the hospital. She says she thinks she ran out of gas, but she does not have any money to get some.

The guy and I look at each other, he offers to run across the street and ask if they have a can he can use.

We push the car further across the side after explaining several times that we wanted her to get in and turn the wheel. She is almost off the road into a closed Sunoco station.

He leaves, and I am left talking to this woman. She proceeds to tell me that she just got her cat fixed and spent all of her money on that. The vet made a mistake and she had to pay to fix it, which is why she has no money. She then confesses that she has not had a job in awhile, aiding to her lack of funds. She asks me for a cigarette. Excuse me, "smokes", because she is "really jonsing for a puff". I smile and apologize, telling her that I do not smoke. She looks disappointed. I wonder to myself when this guy is going to get back.

I see the guy across the street. He is wearing camo pants and a red USMC shirt. He is filling a little red container with gas. I point this out to the woman and she is excited. She asks me again if I am a nurse. I say no... again. She then asks me what I do. I tell her I work in the labs. She smiles brightly and says, see, then you have a reason for wearing what you are wearing! (Scrubs) I smile and say yes... ...as though I can only wear scrubs if I have a specific purpose. She then tells me that she tried to get all the way into WC on .96 cents worth of gas. She lives in Douglasville, and she thought she could make it. I stare towards the marine, willing him to come back over, because clearly this woman has a few screws loose.

Maybe you cannot tell this from my narrative... It was more the way she said things than what she said. It was her tone of voice and how scatterbrained she seemed. She had bright blue eyes and very pale eye brows and eye lashes, lending to vision of her as a wide-eyed baby doll... it seemed to fit both in looks and brains. Obviously a nice lady and all, but definitely lacking mentally.

He trots back over, fills her tank with a gallon. She remarks that it is nice that they had a tank. He explains that he had to buy it and the guy there was a jerk. She says, oh. He says he was a foreigner and people probably did not treat him too well there. She says, yeah, hes probably one of those Iraqi guys or Iran or something. We exchange a glance. He tells her she can keep it, but she has to go get gas immediately. She says she does not have any money. I tell her let's try to start her car, we will worry about step 2 when we get there.

She tries. It does not start. She tries again, no good. The guy and I look at each other again. He says wow, this has just gone from bad to worse. He pops the hood of his car, looking for the spark plugs because her engine was shaking when she tried turning it on. He is not sure where they are. She is driving a Nissan Sentra... but he has taken shop, so he sort of knows what he is doing. The woman says that is great, "hubba hubba". Oh boy. It was slightly strange, but I admit its impressive when a guy knows what the heck he is doing... regardless of what he is doing. I guess we all lucked out that he stopped. We try several more times to start the car, but to no avail. The battery is close to dead now.

She smokes a cigarette.

What?!

She asked me for one earlier and now she is smoking one so close to me that I actually shy away from her. Again, I think she is a bit batty.

A man drives by and gives me his card. Turns out he owns the tow company that is literally a stone's throw from where we are. I thank him profusely. We tell the woman that her car is not going to start, that we need to push it further off the road, and call a tow. She says again that she has no money. We both tell her not to worry about it, we will figure that out when we have to.

I walk out on to rt 100 and pitifully beg the traffic to stop, which it does. We back up her car first, then the guy and I push it into the parking lot. Uphill, mind you. Do you have any idea what a Nisson Sentra weighs? There is no way I could have done this by myself, and afterwards the marine and I are both huffing and puffing out of breath... at least I feel like I held my own. During this time, we both remark how we could not believe people were just driving by this obviously helpless woman without doing a darned thing. Amazing, really.

We catch our breath.

I call the tow company and they say they will be there shortly. While we are waiting, I call work. It is now about 2:20, and I am going to wait to see what happens, so I thought I would be late. Since if I did work at 2:30, I would be late.

Karen picks up the phone in hematology and is utterly confused by what I am saying. I tell her that bottom line, I might be a bit late, but I will be there.

We go back to waiting for the tow. The woman tells us then that she is deaf and has been going deaf for awhile. She says she feels the vibration of noise. I think back to whether or not she answers when she is not looking at me. I ascertain that she does, because she responded when we were pushing her car and she was steering. The guy and I look at each other. Amazing how much understanding can pass between two people who are thrown into a situation together.

The tow comes and along with it, two guys who are undoubtedly younger than I am. The guy explains the situation. The woman says, what, you cannot start my car? The young guys shrug. She says, what about a jump? We all agree it is worth a try.

The marine guy gets out her cables from the back and pops her hood. Meanwhile, the boys pull the truck around and pop the hood... except.... they cannot seem to figure out how to unlatch it. They look for a minute or so. They are obviously confused. I wonder why they do not have a battery jump like most tow companies. I proceed to tell them where to open their hood. Yep, that is right, I show them where to open the hood of their truck. The marine laughs at them and congratulates me.

They actually manage to jump her car and then we explain emphatically that she must get gas RIGHT NOW. She states again that she has no money to get gas. The marine guy gives her twenty. I give her twenty. I tell her to fill her tank to the brim. She gets in her car and she is crying with gratitude.

The tow truck guys do not charge us anything for the jump. It seemed like they were just glad to have something to do today.

We show her how to get out. I go back to my car and get in and proceed to drive away as I see her pulling into the gas station. I smile at the guy. He smiles back at me, and I wave.


In retrospect, I *probably* should have waited at the gas station to make sure once she got gas, her car actually turned back on. I think the guy did because he was parked over there.

As I got into my car and notice that it is about 2:35. It then strikes me that I actually do not work until 3, and that I had wanted to show up at work at 2:30, not 2, not any earlier or later... and that I must be losing my mind that I thought I started work at 2:30.


After that, I just smiled to myself because I know, in some backwards way, that my lapse of mental acuity resulted in me helping out this lady and that although I may not understand God's ways all the time... He certainly has ways... and the path I am on is the path I am on because I have been guided there by Him.

It is such a blessing to know that not everything is in my control. And yes, I am fully aware that I am a control freak. But I do not have to be, if I know that I can trust God to be in control.

Sometimes I think coincidence is just a fancy term for "destined to be".



So that is my story for today.

I hope next time you get in a jam, someone stops and helps you out. :)