Showing posts with label Irish mom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Irish mom. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Doing Something Wonderful: The Back-up Plan

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.