First of all, I must say a huge, gigantic 'thank you!' to all of you for leaving your messages of support for the woman I met on the train last week. I read them all and got teary-eyed every time I heard that little 'ping' on my phone alerting me that another message had come through.
I was honestly hoping for 20 messages. I thought that if we could get about 20, that we would have accomplished something kind of special.
Well, we currently have 111 messages!!! Wow! They are all uplifting, they are all touching, and many of them even made me giggle a bit. Who could ask for more?!
So, as it turns out, I had to work late yesterday, and so I couldn't take my usual train. Not good for my random act of kindness campaign! But, I decided I could use my afternoon break to zip down to the train station to see if I could find my Irish mom and her little cutie patooties.
So, I trundled off to the station when the time came - my packet of messages in hand to give her. I was getting nervous the closer I got. Do you ever have self-doubt? Even though you all inspired me with your outpouring of support, I still found myself worried that I might not know what to say when I found her, or that this whole project might embarrass her in some way.
Despite my anxiety, I waited on the platform, looking for her.
And she never arrived.
Maybe my sister is right. She could have taken an earlier train. Maybe one of her girls was sick and she couldn't go yesterday. My gut tells me that she purposely wasn't on that train because of that man's thoughtless actions.
And the kicker is that I watched him sitting in that accessibility car the whole time I waited on the platform. Clearly he is no more worse for wear after last week, but yet my Irish mom has likely been scared off this train for good. Not fair.
So, I have a back up plan. I want to repect her privacy, so I won't detail it here, but I will keep you all posted on how it goes.
And if it doesn't work, I may just have to count on fate to reunite us!
Wish me luck, and thank you again for your unbridled care and compassion for a complete stranger. That alone is pretty powerful stuff.
I was honestly hoping for 20 messages. I thought that if we could get about 20, that we would have accomplished something kind of special.
Well, we currently have 111 messages!!! Wow! They are all uplifting, they are all touching, and many of them even made me giggle a bit. Who could ask for more?!
So, as it turns out, I had to work late yesterday, and so I couldn't take my usual train. Not good for my random act of kindness campaign! But, I decided I could use my afternoon break to zip down to the train station to see if I could find my Irish mom and her little cutie patooties.
So, I trundled off to the station when the time came - my packet of messages in hand to give her. I was getting nervous the closer I got. Do you ever have self-doubt? Even though you all inspired me with your outpouring of support, I still found myself worried that I might not know what to say when I found her, or that this whole project might embarrass her in some way.
Despite my anxiety, I waited on the platform, looking for her.
And she never arrived.
Maybe my sister is right. She could have taken an earlier train. Maybe one of her girls was sick and she couldn't go yesterday. My gut tells me that she purposely wasn't on that train because of that man's thoughtless actions.
And the kicker is that I watched him sitting in that accessibility car the whole time I waited on the platform. Clearly he is no more worse for wear after last week, but yet my Irish mom has likely been scared off this train for good. Not fair.
So, I have a back up plan. I want to repect her privacy, so I won't detail it here, but I will keep you all posted on how it goes.
And if it doesn't work, I may just have to count on fate to reunite us!
Wish me luck, and thank you again for your unbridled care and compassion for a complete stranger. That alone is pretty powerful stuff.
It sickens me to think that poor excuse of a man scared the poor woman off. That she felt she couldn't take that train, if it is in fact the case; which I too suspect it is.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your new plan. I hope it comes to fruition.
Best of luck!
ReplyDeleteThought I would check in to see if you managed to see her again. Your story has been in my mind since I read about it. If not this week, I hope your paths do cross again. If you don't see her, if only you could turn the tables on him and hand him a print out of all the support she has and maybe he will think again before he opens his big obnoxious mouth, then see if he shows up in the accessability car next week. Hand it to him just as you are about to leave the train "something for you to think about"........mwahahaha!
ReplyDeleteWhat if you had given the packet of notes to the man?
ReplyDelete