It was the first cold night of the season and from her trunk, she handed me a beautiful long blue wool pea coat. “Dad, do you think you could find a home for this?” She knew among the population we serve that I could. 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 30mph winds to our office. I took her back for our appointment to help pay her utility bill since the week before, her purse had been stolen. Still shivering, I served her a hot cup of coffee as she described making the police report and in tears that dripped nearly frozen to her cheeks, she shared how she’d stowed another $35 saved in a zippered pocket for a special Christmas gift to herself she would now have to 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 matching pair of gloves I’d received from another psychic donor that morning to accompany yet another moment just like this.
Magic happens year ’round but it sparkles at Christmastime.