I received an unexpected visitor last week; It was the Ghost of Christmas Present. I had an unexpected day off work and was excitedly going out to do some last minute shopping (I have been shopping heavily since Thanksgiving, but, after all, Christmas is an opportunity to share your blessings).
Then, at a four way stop by the Kellogg Marsh intersection in Marysville, I spotted a young woman by the side of a ramshackle car with its hood up. She was near tears and understandably upset. She had been there for half an hour and no one had stopped to help her. She had to push the car off the road herself. In halting words (it turns out that she is deaf) she told me there was no one to call for help. Her boyfriend was at the food bank, helping out in return for the food they had received. I offered to take her there to get him, she assured me he would be able to fix the car. She got in my new car, but she really didn’t want to leave her dog Trouper. Well, okay Trouper, just this once. Off to the food bank we go, what a heart breaking sight. I didn’t realize how many people were down on their luck. Until you actually are there you have no idea. They really need that food. And when you are there, when you actually see them, you realize how much we take for granted.
The boyfriend became very distraught when he heard the news about the car. They had just bought the car and they had no money. I took them back to look at the car and he was pretty happy to realize that all it needed was two bolts. It is amazing how little in life is required to make some people become overjoyed. We looked all over Marysville for those bolts. We finally had to go to Everett to get them. Two dollars was all it cost me for those bolts, and some of my shopping time. He assured me he could handle it now, so I left the very grateful couple there at that intersection and went on my way.
But I wasn’t really surprised to see them there when I returned an hour later. Things never go as well as you think they will. But all he needed was a little wrench to tighten those bolts. Only one truck had stopped in that hour, a City of Marysville crew, but they didn’t have that wrench. There is a lot of traffic on that corner. A lot of people went by that young couple. All they needed was a wrench, A hand up, not a hand out. Well, we finally found a wrench and they got going, but I don’t know for how long. They also had missed their appointment at Jennings Park to get presents for his children. They are nice young people, just trying to make it. She is going to school to be a teacher of the deaf. He needs a job.
If you happen to see a Ford Fiesta by the road with a young couple beside it; please stop and see what you can do for them. It will give you a real sense of what Christmas is all about. And, just maybe, they are our modern day Joseph and Mary.
Lake Stevens
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