“My body’s off again.” This was thought that crossed my mind as I woke up. “I’m still exhausted. I’ve been feeling run down lately.”

I climbed out of bed and dragged myself into the shower. Fifteen minutes later, I was sitting on my bed dressing to volunteer at the annual Thanksgiving giveaway at the Salvation Army in Harlem when my phone rang.

“We have one problem with your order?” A woman said.

“Order?” I replied. I instantly remembered that I forgot to cancel my Thanksgiving food order.

I made sure the volunteer coordinator knew that I wouldn’t make it and I climbed back into bed. Two hours later, I headed to the grocery store to pick up food I didn’t necessarily need.

On my way home, I stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts. An older homeless lady had asked me for change on the way in so
I handed her a dollar on my way out. I also asked if she needed something to eat. With emotion in her voice, she replied no but thanked me for my concern.

I was almost at my car when I heard a woman yelling, “miss. Miss. Please help me.”

I saw a woman in a motorized wheelchair stuck at at the parking lot entrance. I walked over to see how I could help.

“Can you push me to the flat part?”

My first thought was no. I have a chronic back pain and I’m exhausted. But, I looked around and realized I was the only one outside. So, I used all my strength to move that chair. And, it was heavy. One block later she was on her way home.

For a few moments, I sat in my car watching her to make sure she was okay.
As she disappeared out of sight, the guilt I felt for missing the volunteer event left. Then, a thought occurred to me. Maybe I wasn’t meant to be in the city today. Perhaps my plans changed so I could be right here to help these women. I didn’t make the difference I thought but I did make someone’s day.

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