Year of Giving

I said back on Day 218 that sometimes I just find myself in the moment and realize I am talking to the person who should receive my $10.  Day 227 was just such a day.

I had walked down to the corner of 19^th and M Streets to see Anthony from Day 67.  It was his birthday and I had bought him a mini birthday cake.  He was in a great mood and lots of people were stopping by to wish him well.

Lisa feeling a little better (photo: Reed)

While we were chatting a woman crossed the street and as she stepped up onto the curb she lost her footing and went down.  I saw it.  Anthony heard it.  She went down hard launching the ice-tea that she had in her hand through the air.  I ran over to her to see if she was ok.  Despite being a little frazzled and embarrassed she seemed ok.  She was more upset about the ice-tea I think!  I helped her up and saw the blood starting to form around the skinless patch on her leg.  I walked with her over to the Au Bon Pain where there were some chairs outside and she sat down to catch her breath and check her leg.  Meanwhile I went in and asked the store manager for some bandages and alcohol.  Unfortunately they couldn’t find any bandages so I walked over to the 7-11 and bought a box of Band-Aids.  There weren’t any that were large enough to cover the entire scrape though.

As she cleaned herself up, I gave her my $10.  After all I had a somewhat captive audience, right!  Lisa is a 43-year-old member services representative for a credit union.  For the past nine years she has been handling the members’ accounts, loans and helping them get credit.

Although she now lives in Maryland, she grew up in DC.  I asked her what some of her more memorable moments in the nation’s capital were.  She didn’t hesitate at all before replying, “Getting to see the first black president.”  She paused for a second and slightly nodded her head, “I didn’t expect to see that in my lifetime.”  She shared that she wished that her mother and father would have been alive to see it.  You could feel the hope in her voice as she talked about her four children and the opportunities they will have.

photo: Reed

I asked her what she would do with the $10.  “I think I’m going to get me a nice lunch and a smoothie” she said.

Well, Lisa needed to get on her way.  She slowly stood up and eased some pressure on her leg.  “I’m ok” she said as she started to walk back to her office.

It felt nice to take time to help someone.  I’m sure the $10 will help make up for the ice-tea that she lost, but for me being able to help her and make sure that she was alright was worth more than anything I had in my wallet.