Mrs. B

We have a neighbor lady that is always sitting outside on her door step. She's an older lady, and is always smiling and waving to people. This is the lady that lives at the place we first thought were drug dealers. (long story) Well a few weeks ago she started waving to me. I didn't know her. Never met her, but still she waved. ALL THE TIME! If I go out to our deck she waves. When I walk from the house to the car, she waves. When I turn out the driveway and go down the street she waves. When I return, the steps are repeated. I counted in one outing it is possible for her to wave 6 times. :) Some people might find this creepy. Maybe she's a stalker? But I decided I needed to meet this lady. So yesterday I made some lemon poppy seed muffins. Now let me interject here...I choose them because I had those ingredients on hand. Ralph says poppy is maybe not the best thing to take to someone you think might be doing drugs. :) This morning after being up for a while I noticed she was sitting outside. I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me. "Go, now. Go meet her. This is your chance." So grabbing a plate of muffins out I went. As soon as I opened the door she waved. I waved back, smiled, and started across the street. She saw me coming her way and immediately put a cushion on the chair beside her. I approached her saying... "I see you smiling and waving all the time, and decided I needed to come meet you." She got up and without even saying hi, or my name is... she gave me a big Grandmotherly hug. Then she said, "May I make you a cup of coffee?" Of course. "Wait here, I'll be right back." This is so ironic, I thought. I don't even know her name yet. When she came back I told her my name. She said her name was Batilidalihadgill... or something like that. But I could call her Mrs B or just B. (Ralph wondered if there was one L on the end or 2. I said it sounded like 3) She is 79 and has 11 kids and lots of grandchildren and great grandchildren. I told her I was looking for work and had a job interview that afternoon and she said she would pray for me that I would get the job. I told her it's so nice to see her always smiling and waving. She must have a lot of friends. She said she gets lonely sitting at home by herself all the time. Her husband died 8 years ago. But the people that used to live where we live now, the man would wave back, but the lady never did. She would always just look away. I made the comment something about living with my brother, and she gasped and said, "I'm so sorry!! I thought he was your husband! I am so sorry." I just laughed and said yeah we've heard that before. It's ok. We chatted on, and about 5 min later shaking her head she said, "I am so sorry, I thought he was your husband." I just laughed again... I finally had to excuse myself to go check the laundry. She gave me another hug and told me to stop by anytime. I think I found another friend, and when I looked back after crossing the street, she smiled and waved. :)

Mrs. B. really blessed me. She has obviously had a lot of pain in her life. She said she is the only sibling left in her family of 19. She could be sitting in her house all day watching soap operas and other tv junk. She could be this old, cynical, grouchy lady that no one wants to be around. But by all outward signs she is totally the opposite. I look forward to getting to know her better. 

The moral of the story is... be friendly, smile, and wave to people. Even if you don't know them. Not only will you make a difference in peoples lives, but you will also grow to be a cheerful old person whom people will be glad to go visit. So go out and smile and wave a while.