An Odd Christmas Night

Well it certainly was an interesting, odd, and somewhat disturbing day. After our guests left, David and I were hanging out watching a movie and we heard a knock on the door. David answered and there was a young woman in her early 20s, in a walking boot, pajamas, and a sweatshirt. She said she was locked out and asked to use our phone. David noticed that she had a walking cast and invited in to use the phone. She tried calling several people and didn’t reach anyone so David asked if we would take her somewhere. She her soon-to-be sister inlaw lived in an area not far from us, so I gave her a coat I wasn’t using and some sweatshirts and we piled into the car.

As we drove and drove trying to find the house (she’d only been there once and didn’t know the address) it felt a bit like a needle in a haystack. “I don’t recognize anything here. What about this street? I’m not crazy. I’ll know it when I see it.” As we tried to get some details that might help us help her, it came out that she’s been in town 4 months, doesn’t know her fiance’s place of employment or where he works and pretty no one in town besides him.

As she spoke I remembered a similar Christmas night nearly 25 years ago when I was living in Oklahoma. I’d spent the previous 4 days stretching 2 packets of oatmeal because that was the only food in the house. My fiancé at the time had left me the week before to find work in Oklahoma City. He was supposed to have been home the next day. A week later, I was worried, hungry and not sure of how I would survive on my own without a phone, car, job, or anything. I was completely dependent on him. Around 3 am Christmas morning he came in drunk and starting tearing up the house because I didn’t have dinner hot and ready. I was shot at, had a knife thrown at me, my jaw dislocated, and a sprained ankle. I waited until he passed out and left in the middle of the night with the clothes on my back and walked 3 miles to the nearest neighbor to use the phone.

So I identified with this poor girl. We drove for quite a while and while we were driving all the feelings of that awful Christmas years ago bubbled to the surface – the humiliation, the shock at being in the position of asking a total stranger for help and hoping they did, no clothing, wondering what the next step should be, desperation, and worry. I also felt vulnerable and wondered at times as the story unfolded if it was all a ruse and if our home was being robbed blind while we were looking for the needle in the haystack. About the time that David and I were ready to give up and take this poor girl to the homeless shelter, she recognized the area we were in and had us drop her off at her stepmother’s home.

Hopefully, we were where we were supposed to be for a reason. I hope that we were able to provide some comfort and lessen some of the pain of this life lesson.