"Mama, I'm sending you a gift-card on line to your favorite restaurant for Mother's Day," my daughter Amy said over the phone Sunday. "Will you have any trouble getting it printed off?" I thanked her and assured her it would be fine. I wasn't sure our printer was working, but I told her our grandson Adam could print it for us, or we could go to the library, where we've had things printed before.
We ran into Adam a couple of days ago, and he said he would be glad to print it, I should just bring my laptop over. We followed him to his apartment, and after he showed us around the place, he turned on my computer and his printer. We visited with small talk while he walked back and forth from his computer room to the printer. He seemed a bit distracted, and finally he said that there were complications because he had done something different with his system recently. I hated to put him to any more trouble, so I said we would just get it done at the library.
This morning we set out on some errands, including a stop at the library, but first my husband wanted to go feed our remaining pig, the huge Chester White we keep at our son's farm. I love saving table scraps for her, so we grabbed her bucket of tasty morsels and drove the short distance into the country. She gobbled her food, only a little distracted by the yapping of the tiny, resident chihuahua grabbing bites of her breakfast. Thankfully, the mild-mannered pig ignored him, although he was practically in her mouth.
She needed to be watered, so Howard asked me to turn the water on from the farmhouse spigot. I traipsed up the hill and found that yard work from yesterday had necessitated that the long, long, hose be wound neatly around a holder. I couldn't unwind or pull the lengthy hose, since it was intertwined with a second hose. Turning the water on to see which hose was filling, I stepped in the overflow and soaked my new athletic shoes. Howard took over and I opened the car door to wait inside. Not soon enough to avoid the little dog springing onto my lap with muddy feet on my clean jeans, though.
After a grocery stop, we made it to the library. The attendant waited patiently for Howard to produce his library card to use the computer. She offered to look it up on her computer and found the card was expired. I couldn't find my infrequently used card, either, and she said my name wasn't even on the computer. "We've had everything changed recently, and it isn't picking up all the names," she said. Taking the elevator (seniors and disabled only) back upstairs, Howard got a new card and sat down at the computer. For some reason we couldn't get online and it wouldn't take the password we remembered.
Hungry and anxious to get home, we got in the car only to have it sputter and fail to start. Howard said it wasn't getting gas, since we had parked on a slant next to the curb. "I thought you were going to get gas at Walmart!" I pointed out, but obviously he forgot. After prayer and during his repeated attempts to get it started, I was noticing a tall, husky man wearing a bandanna lounging around the library steps, seemingly waiting for someone.
"I'm going to see if I can push it so that it's level and can get gas," Howard said. I didn't want him to do that, and suggested asking the man standing over there to help him. "I'm not asking anyone to help me," he said.
"But he's a biker-type and looks strong," I insisted. He took a look and went to talk to him. I saw the man nod and stride toward the car. With what seemed like barely a flick of his little finger we were level and the car started. The filling station was our first stop on the way home. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all!" I think He had put the stranger there on purpose just when we needed help! And we will enjoy that meal out yet!
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