The Repairman, the Cashier, the Baggage Carrier and my Seat Mates
Sometimes I think that I live a sheltered life. But I love to get out and meet new people and encourage them. How can I if I don’t get out to meet them? After all, my book, That One Person was written to encourage others.
It finally occurred to me that the opportunity to be that one person, even for just a moment, was all around me. I just wasn’t looking!
This change of attitude started when a repairman came to fix our broken dishwasher. He was a friendly young Hispanic.
I asked, “Where are you from originally?”
“Well, my family came from Mexico twenty years ago and now I have a great job, a wife and four kids.”
“Ah.” I smiled. “That’s the American dream.” I shared with him how my grandparents came from Latvia in 1910 to escape oppression.
Out of the blue, as he lay on the floor working on the dishwasher, looking like a turtle on its back, he glanced at my piano in the living room and said, “I see you have a big American flag on your front porch. Would you please sing the national anthem for me?”
What? That seemed like an unusual request. Caught off guard, there was nothing I could do but sing it for him. “Oh, please sing it again. It inspires me.”
Yay! I was on to something. I realized that if I would only look, people all around me in ordinary, everyday life could use an encouraging word if I would only look for it. So that very afternoon, all fired up, I noticed the weary cashier at the grocery store who was checking out my groceries. She scowled as she rang up my items.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“No! I hate people! The last couple of days all I hear is customers being rude and complaining about everything. I can’t please anyone.”
Startled, I said, “And yet look at you! Despite it all you got up this morning, came to work on time, are organized and have managed to ring up my groceries accurately, something that I know I could not do. I really appreciate you.
That weary scowl immediately turned into a radiant smile. “I never thought of it that way,” she said. “Thank you so much!”
I hoped that she was as blessed as I was.
A week later, happily at long last, after a two-year delay because of Covid, I boarded a plane for Memphis to sign my book at Novel Bookstore there and also to see my two sisters.
That’s a tricky flight changing planes in Dallas with only a short forty-five-minute layover. I was assisted by a young African American employee. She was waiting for me with a wheelchair and literally raced me to the other end of that huge airport and into a crowded tram. In addition, the announcement came that the gate had been changed. I would not have made it without this fireball young gal.
As she lined me up at the gate ready to board, I turned to see her eager face. “You did a great job getting me here! Thank you! I simply would not have made this connection without your help!”
“Really?” She spoke. Her eyes glowed with tears. “It’s my first day on the job! And I was so scared. Thanks! I needed that.”
I tipped her well and said, “Look what you have accomplished. You came out and got this job in a very competitive market, you showed a real interest in me, the customer, because you care, and it shows. You will do well here.”
We both smiled as I was rolled onto the plane.
Finally, there was one more blessing waiting for me on the next plane. But it didn’t start out that way. I had a seat on the aisle. Squeezed in the middle seat was a large overweight man who oozed over into my area. Oh great. I thought. I was irritated. I said to myself, get over it. It’s only a three-hour flight now.
Trying to be friendly, I asked him the usual tourist question, “Where are you and your wife going?”
He lit up, ready to tell his story. “We’re going on a cruise. It’s the first time we’ve been out of the house in years.”
“Oh, because of Covid?”
“Well, no, ours is a second marriage. We met through our children who are both handicapped and it is difficult to leave them at all. So, this is very special to us.”
It dawned on me that these two saints would be committed for the rest of their entire lives to care for these children. Suddenly, I didn’t care at all about sharing a few inches of my seat with him.
He went on to share what the kids meant to them. His wife, all aglow now, joined in our conversation. Clearly this was a match made in heaven. Once again, I was blessed and inspired beyond words. As we fastened our seatbelts, I said to them. “God bless you and your family.” I then turned to look away, too choked up to say more.
These brief encounters with the repairman, the cashier, the baggage handler, and this couple helped me to appreciate my own life. Funny, I wanted to bless them but I received a greater blessing just hearing their stories.
If only we could hear everyone’s story! What a difference it would make in our attitude. We only catch a momentary glimpse of someone else’s life, like seeing just one section of a parade passing by but not the whole picture. But we don’t have to see it all, or to know it all, to grab the opportunity to cheer someone on. Even a stranger. We can for a moment be that one person to someone who may need it so badly. But how will we know if we don’t reach out even within those we see in our daily lives…the grocery clerk, the repairman, the luggage person.
I encourage you to notice people around you and enjoy that golden opportunity to help them and be blessed yourself.
Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, as long as ever you can.
I Thessalonians 5:11: Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are now doing.
Hebrews 10:24-25: And let us consider how to stir one another to love and good works…encouraging one another.
Numbers 6:22: May the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.
Enjoy reading Annie’s recently published inspirational memoir, THAT ONE PERSON, by Annie Farris, written to encourage you in these challenging times. Now available on Amazon for $15.95, and Kindle for $9.99. Endorsed by Pat Boone and 18 others with numerous 5-star reviews. It makes a great gift!
AFTER YOU’VE READ THE BOOK, PLEASE GO TO AMAZON.COM AND WRITE A REVIEW. Amazon will only allow Annie to advertise after she has 100 5 star reviews, a daunting job for a new author!
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