Wednesday, December 20, 2006

A Christmas Miracle

Christmas Miracles - they do happen, and right here in Whatcom county. And, yes, this really is a true story - it happened just last week -

My girlfriend from church choir is a hard working gal. She works long hours as a housekiiping supervisor for a large local resort, but I know that the "supervisor" title is mostly glory - a lot of extra work and not much extra money. She drives an early '90's car and lives frugally in a little trailer out in Birch Bay with her pets.

She recently was having some car problems so she went to a local auto service center - the news that she got was not good (especially before Christmas) She need to have the ball joints replaced on her car - it was going to cost almost $350.00. Hastily scribbling some budget figures on the back of an envelope, she told the repair man to go ahead, as she needed her vehicle to be reliable so she could get to work & church - grocery store, etc... Then she turned over the envelope and was dismayed to realize that she was scribbling on the back of her Puget Power bill - there was another "budget" figure she was going to have to figure in.

Then the repair man came back out and told her that he had more bad news - her car needed new bearings too - another $200! Near tears, she told him to go ahead - no good to do one part of the job without the other - she'd put it on her credit card. She was so upset, she didn't even notice the other people who were in the waiting room with her. When her car was finished, she went up to pay the bill. The repair man went over what he had done to her vehicle and indicated to her, very clearly that "this is the amount that will go on your card"

It was only $250.00! When my friend, who thought he was making a mistake, said that she thought it was going to be more, he said "The lady sitting next to you paid $300 on your bill" -"She said she had the means to take care of it"

IS THAT NOT THE COOLEST THING!! It just makes me cry every time I think about it, and I knew that you'd love to hear the story. And may I say "Many blessings" on to the generous lady who helped my friend pay her bill.

I hope you and your family have a fantastic holiday season and a wonderful Christmas!

XOX to you! Tina

9 comments:

Michelle said...

Hurray and amen! Wish I had the means to go around giving anonymous miracles like that. I guess since I don't, it makes it all the more important to do what I can. May "senseless beauty and random acts of kindness" live forever! (Not sure I quoted that right....)

Have a very merry Christmas up there with your family, friends, and four-legged blessings. :-)

vlb5757 said...

That was the sweetest story. Who does that these days? What a kind person who probably had been in that kind of a situation once upon a time ago.

Anonymous said...

what a touching story, I found your site from Farmgirl. Isn't it wonderful that this kind person, happened upon someone who really needed her? It warmed my heart.

Anonymous said...

This restores my faith in man-kind! I always thought the best job in life would be to go around doing stuff like this for people - but have to admit that sometimes that stupid money-thing gets in the way so it ends up being alot of little things instead of something like this!
I agree with Michelle! I know that, for me, doing something for someone you don't know and not letting them know who it was gives me the nicest feeling. And this reminds me that I can do more!

May you all be blessed and loved this Holiday Season!

Anonymous said...

What a LOVELY thing to do!! Thank you for sharing the story. Happy Holidays!

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a great story. It made my day.

Tina T-P said...

Thanks to everybody for "stopping by" - if you were closer, we could have a cup of tea and a plate of the brownies I made to take to work tomorrow (they'd never miss a few, eh?)

I can remember one of my favorite TV shows when I was a kid was "The Millionaire" a guy who would chose deserving people and give them money - I always thought that would be the most fun part of having a lot of money - :-) T.

Anonymous said...

Tina...

What makes you think there would be any brownies left after we sample them, eh? ;-)

Many hugs from the SW!

Unknown said...

That really is a Christmas story :-) thank you so much for sharing it.
That anonymous lady really did Pay it Forward, totally awesome! I have never had the money to do it that way but did once have the opportunity to give a homeless woman accomodation for 6 months. She sorted herself out and is now a PA for a posh firm in London. You never know what way you can contribute sometimes it is only a smile!