Day 61 ~ Going My Way?

Day 61 ~ Going My Way?

Mar 2, 2014

My first: I offered a ride to a woman who was walking along the highway in a blizzard.

I was heading to my sister’s house to do some odd jobs for her while she is on vacation with her family. Along this 9 mile stretch of high way, I saw this woman walking with her purse in a blizzard. As is usually the case, I am on the lookout to perform my “first” for the day if I don’t already have something in mind. So my eyes saw this woman, but my mind did not register it right away. I passed her and after a few seconds thought “this would be something I can do for my ‘first’: ask this woman if she needs a ride!” I kind of questioned it at first, wondering what in the heck this woman is doing out here. But I eventually turned my car around and headed back to see if I could help her.

I pulled beside her with the highway between us. I yelled to her asking if she needed a ride…no response or acknowledgement. I asked again…same thing. I finally honked my horn and she looked my way. I asked if she needed a ride. She began hysterically yelling back at me that she does not need a ride. I repeated my plea to help her and she, again hysterically, yelled back at me that she doesn’t need me or her husband. I could not leave her in this horribly cold and blustery weather. I was relentless. She ran from me and fell onto the slope of the ditch. I turned into this driveway and yelled my name to her, hoping that personalizing my offer would make me appear more approachable. She kept running away. Then I noticed a truck pulling to the side of the highway and a man getting out. He proceeded up the slope to “talk” to her. I heard them yelling, apparently continuing with an altercation that started long before my intrusion. He yelled that she is “f**king nuts” and she yelled back another F-bomb. He said he was calling the police and she said “go ahead ‘cause I ain’t done nothing wrong”. He pulled away and she walked on right pass my car without a glance. I was tempted to call 911 until I noticed that the man in the truck appeared again. The woman decided at that point, for whatever reason, to get in. They drove off. I breathed a sigh of relief that she was out of the inclement weather, but wondered what was in store for her now…

My “first” ended up being quite a drama scene that began with a plea to help and finished with the inability to help. You cannot help someone who is not open to it. My only consolation is that my involvement may have helped in some way to get these two people to realize how they look in someone else’s eyes. Who knows…I tried.