Oddest thing. I met a young woman on the street. She was saddled with an overstuffed backpack, 3 fishing rods, two baskets filled with stuff. “I don’t know what to do,” she said as I was walking past her. Then her strange story ensued which included her father and brother getting arrested, leaving her there, and the bus driver not letting her on the bus with fishing poles.
It was getting dark and I needed to get my walk in. I wasn’t supposed to be there anyway but I’d made a series of moves that left me annoyed and trying to make the best use of the night.
Her story was “fishy” but her fear seemed real. I walked over to the police station on the pier, which was locked and no police in sight.
She sounded stoned to me, said her name was Faith, and her phone was smashed, and that the police had threatened her. I couldn’t leave her on the street so I called Lyft and arranged a ride to the address she said was her mother’s. Then waited with her until a black Lyft car with a bashed-in dent in the passenger door arrived.
It was kind of a miracle to go through my own series of twists and turns that left me there at that time. “I’m so afraid,” she said. I certainly know what it’s like to be a young girl out alone and with little money. I’m so grateful I’m not there now.
We’re always afraid of people ripping us off/manipulating us with made-up stories that make us feel like less if we believe them. My brother wrote about a man who in response to VA Tech shootings, committed to do a million acts of random kindness. Dedicated to this mission, the man now travels the country in an old school bus sharing kindness with the world.
I am always so glad to have a home to go back to. That same series of twists and turns I’d been beating myself up about also left me free to do a reading for someone else that night.
So Faith, wherever you are, stay safe. You obviously know how to ask for help. May you find a better way and not be left sitting on a curb with a story about having a dad who tells you to bail him out. May you find the right road to your well being and abundance. And may I trust the process for good.
Kind of my own Faith Lyft.
