When Angels Visit + Something Extra - Angel at the Automat
Published: Wed, 08/17/16
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Hi ,
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Quote: "When angels visit us, we do not hear the rustle of wings, nor feel the feathery touch of the breast of a dove; but we know their presence by the love they create in our
hearts." --- Mary Baker Eddy Oh yes: a link to the image or you can copy and paste the url into your browser. This week's "Something Extra" : Angel At The Automat He sat down in his favorite living room chair and looked at her peacefully asleep on the couch. It had been a long day. It had started early, with a Mother's Day breakfast in bed. He had just put the children to sleep. He picked up the remote control, lowered the volume on the TV and then shut it off. He did it this way so as not to awaken her with instant silence. He stared at her and drifted off into a night time daydream of how they
had met seventeen years before. She had been a waitress in a small diner in New York City. He would occasionally go there to eat with street people. He had been in the diner six or seven times with different people. One day he stopped in by himself. She had given him a menu and said, "No friends today?" He looked up at her and said, "No just me." When she came to the table with his food her curious nature prompted a question, "Are you a minister or something like that?"
He was a bit taken aback. Nobody had ever asked him about this thing that he did, eating with street people many of whom where homeless. It was sort of a private thing, almost like a hobby. He was
conscious of the fact that to most people it might seem to be a strange thing to do. He stammered, "I just, uh.... eat with people who appreciate a good meal." She looked at him as if this was an insufficient answer and said, "Oh." When she returned with the check she looked at him and said, "I appreciate a good meal. Maybe we could eat together some
time." Her boldness startled him. He was not accustomed to assertive woman and even more unaccustomed to someone asking him for a date. In fact it had never happened before. A few days later they had dinner in a small Italian restaurant. At first they engaged in small talk, bits of
information about themselves. She was twenty-four, one year younger than him. Both lived alone. She had come to the city from Montana, hoping to act in plays. In two years she had had three small parts. He was an artist who sold some of his paintings through small art galleries. Conversation drifted around to his hobby. She was curious about it. Why did he eat with street people? How long had
he been doing it? She was anything but shy and seemed to ask whatever question popped into her head. He had told her of how it had started six years before. It was two months after his mother had died in a plane crash while on her first visit to her sister in Florida. He was walking down the street on his way to a bookstore when he passed an old woman who was saying, "Change for
food?" He had walked past her but then stopped and turned around. He walked up to her and invited her to eat with him. She had looked at him and said, "I don't do no tricks." After assuring her that he simply wanted to buy her a meal they went to a fast food place and ate together. That was
how it had started. A couple of times week he would find someone panhandling and have a meal with them. After telling her about this first time he said, "I guess it seems an odd thing to do. I've done it over five hundred times. Met a lot of interesting people. The most it ever costs is twenty-five dollars a week, less than a lot of other
hobbies." She asked more questions and he wondered if she was just pretending to be interested or maybe humoring what she saw as some sort of craziness r strangeness. He told her how he learned from them and how each had their own story. "A lot of people are one twist of fate or circumstance away from being in the same type of situation." To read more, please click on the link or copy and paste the url into your browser: Wishing you a wonderfully blessed day! Love, Marlene |
