It was the first cold night of the season and from her trunk, she handed me a beautiful blue wool pea coat. “Dad, do you think you could find a home for this?” I said “Yeah honey, I’m sure it will find a good home on its own. They always do.” She replied, “I know. I’ll be waiting to hear.”
Fast forward two days.
78 year old Lettie had taken the bus several miles up Boulder Highway and walked another half mile from the bus stop in chilly 30mph winds to my office. I took her back for our appointment to help pay her utility bill since the week before, her purse had been stolen along with all her money. Still shivering, she described making the police report and in tears that dripped frozen to her cheeks, she shared how she’d stowed another $35 saved in a zippered pocket for a special Christmas gift she would have to now go without.
With her utility bill paid, I carried two bags of groceries from our pantry and asked her to follow me to the parking lot.
And just as it happened two days prior, I opened my trunk and handed her the Christmas gift she’d saved to buy herself. The blue wool pea coat fit like a glove, just like the pair I’d received from another donor that morning to accompany a moment just like this.