This whole gang came.
A designer in 5 Month City contacted me and wanted me to know if I could fill in while she was on maternity leave. And she makes stuff like this:
So yes. Yes I could fill in for her. Obviously. Look at those sweet poof things.
I have had a number of calls about weddings this. So collections like this have been taking place more and more frequently:
The zoo also had a baby:
You know that line from Dispicable Me when the little girls wins that stuffed animal at the carnival and says "It's so fluffy I could die!!!!"
Well that was me.
Except it was a baby elephant.
And in stead of saying "fluffy" I inserted "already wrinkly."
But the excitement was the same.
Seriously, it was the cutest baby I have ever seen and I pretty much lost my mind.
He even was taking his little trunk, filling it up with water, and spraying himself.
Slay me.
And then two days later, this happened:
Hubbs and I loaded almost all of our earthly possessions into a UHaul and left 5 Month City.
What a strange feeling it is to put your stuff in a box. It makes me wonder what really life is made up of.
Despite the fact that 5 Month City was not very nice to us, and it was not a place we felt particularly drawn to, as we were going through the packing process we both had our moments of sadness.
This was our first house together. This was our first city we lived in together. This was a place where we were together literally 24/7 and didn't get sick of each other. Be what the city itself may, we had created some semblance of a life there.
Yes, we wanted to leave, yes we are so happy to be back, yes the grocery stores here are nothing short of miraculous and I ordered meat at the butcher yesterday for probably twenty minutes, we still had to do our share of saying goodbye to 5 Month City. We even both might have had a few melancholy moments.
Leaving some place makes you take stock and sum up all the experiences you now call yours.
And I couldn't stop thinking about this one experience specifically.
It was a typical Monday. I had gone grocery shopping, I had gone to WalMart, I had had numerous typical unnerving experiences at both places.
Much like Jo in Little Women when she is asked to go visit friends with her sister, ("Come, Jo, it's time."
"For what?"
"You don't mean to say you have forgotten that you promised to make half a dozen calls with me today?"
"I've done a good many rash and foolish things in my life, but I don't think I ever was mad enough to say I'd make six calls in one day, when a single one upsets me for a week.")
I feel that way about shopping. Especially in 5 Month City. I had already gone to TWO stores, not one, (and a single store upsets me all week), and was "ready to get home" as one might casually say.
Zipping down The Pothole Road, I really was almost to my road, when out of the corner of my eye I see two women at a bus-stop, one of them flat on her back and the other standing over her.
And it wasn't like she was taking a nap. That was obvious.
Feeling certain they were in trouble I whipped my car around, delaying my longed-for return home.
"Are you alright?!?!" I said immediately as I pulled up.
"I don't know! I think she is having a panic attack!"
There she lay on the ground, almost convulsing, uncontrollably sobbing, hyperventilating, and overall out of it.
What is a girl to do?! I called someone I know who has dealt with this issue in the past and she walked me through how I could help.
Breathing exercising, supporting their weight, reassuring them, telling them it's ok to feel how they are feeling, etc.
I sat there with them for about twenty minutes and we got the woman calmed down enough to sit up and be able to tell us how she was feeling.
They told me that they were a "couple" and their names were Beth and Madalyn, and we made small talk and self-help talk as best we could in a situation like this.
Seeing as they were at a bus stop they didn't have a car, so when Madalyn mentioned she wanted to go to the hospital, I knew I was the one to do it.
I called Hubbs and had his come down, pick us up, and take us.
They were so thankful, we told them about ourselves, what we were doing in 5 Month City, what we had done the day before for Easter.
They were not religious, so they had gone to one of those all you can eat Buffet places.
We helped her into a wheelchair at the ER and sent them in.
And then we drove home.
From that point on every time I drove by that bus stop I looked to see if they were there.
They weren't.
For weeks after I couldn't stop thinking about them. How different their lives were from mine. What their stories might be that had led them to that lifestyle. What background things brought on the attack. Why did no one else stop. Thanking the Lord that I listened to him and went back.
And then we started packing up our houses. And it really hit me: I will never see them again.
God placed me there for that time, to come into their life during that need.
To be a breathing coach.
To let them know they weren't alone.
To give them a ride to the hospital.
To tell them we were praying for them. And we are.
We left 5 Month City early in the morning and as I drove past I looked at that empty bus stop. Remembering the day I wanted to get home and God wanted me to stay. To be a tangible force in their life for good.
I won't ever see them again. I won't ever know how their story ends. I won't ever know how their story started.
But God does.
Jesus saw them born. He will see them die. He saw them in their panic and sent me.
He knows. He loves. He cares. For two women so far away from him. For two women with deep seeded need and pain.
And so I trust. I trust that he has seen them their whole life. And he will continue to. Whether I continue to drive by that bus stop in 5 Month City anymore or not.
Because I am not.
No comments:
Post a Comment