As I was coming out of the bank around lunchtime yesterday, I found an elderly woman standing next to my car, looking upset. When I unlocked the car she looked at me and frowned. "I can't find my friend's car." I opened my car door to sit my purse down and she started to hobble off, looking even more downcast than when I found her. I think she thought I wasn't going to help her. It was cold and she looked so rattled that I couldn't have left her there without helping, even if I wanted to. She reminded me so much of my grandfather, who died this September, that it broke my heart all over again. So, I locked my car and set off down the sidewalk after her.
"Does your friend have a cell phone you could call her on?" I pulled out my phone as I asked, but she shook her head.
"No, I don't believe she has one of those." She looked so forlorn that it made me want to cry, standing right there on the sidewalk.
I sighed, feeling really bad for her by now. She was so tiny, and she was shivering. "Can you tell me what your friend's car looks like?"
The woman shook her head slowly. "Not very well. You see, I'm legally blind. I can make out shapes, but that's about all." My gut twisted for her, and I determined right then that I was going to take her home if we couldn't find the car within the next five minutes. We walked all the way to the end of the sidewalk with me peering in cars for her, but none of them seemed to be the right one, so we moved back up the street toward my car. When we got a couple of spaces away from where I was parked, I saw a station wagon we hadn't noticed before, and another elderly woman was sitting behind the wheel of the car, reading. So, I told the blind, elderly woman this, and she knocked on the window. Her friend looked up and called to the elderly woman through the closed car door.
"What's wrong, Vivian? Get in." Vivian turned and smiled at me, waving.
"Thank you for your help! Goodbye."
I waved and whispered, "'Bye, Ms. Vivian."
After that, I got back in my car and cried. She reminded me so much of Pawpaw that my heart positively ached. I'm glad I stayed, and I'm glad I helped her. I would have wanted someone to do the same for my grandfather if he was still alive. I will never forget the day I spared a few minutes of my time and helped Ms. Vivian. I'm grateful to have met her.
Reading this brought tears to my eyes. It's been almost two years since I lost my grandfather, and he suffered from Alzheimer's. I wish there were more people in the world like you, willing to go out of their way to help strangers. Bless you.
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