Feeling Up-Side-Down

Yesterday was just one of those days where things weren’t going so smoothly.  I was late for my first patient visit.  I’d love to blame my GPS, but this time she was right and I was wrong.  The patient was very understanding and OK with my mistake.  I was leaving her house at the time I was scheduled to be at another house about 20 minutes away.  I called, and she was also very gracious, and assured me not to worry.

In between, I stopped at the Capital District’s favorite convenient store, Stewarts, and as I extended my hand to open the door, a man appeared from nowhere, and said loudly, “No, I’ll get the door.  It’s heavy.”  I felt a combination of shock and awe, and retracted my hand abruptly.  I managed to spit out “Wow.  Thank You!”   I imagine that his act of kindness made his day as special as it made mine.

No secret, I was late for my 3rd patient, but she forgot I was coming, so she was just surprised to see me.  The problem there, which made me late for my 4^th patient, was that her driveway was never plowed.  I pulled in with no problem, and I know I could have pulled out of her semi-circular driveway without causing a scene, but I miscalculated where the mouth of the driveway was, and got suspended over a ditch.  Luckily, she had a shovel outside her front door which I used for the next 40 minutes to lower my jeep to the ground so the 4WD mechanism would do me proud.  As I was shoveling, I thought it would be so easy to be discouraged that this even happened, but instead, I thought of my patients and the fact that many probably wish they could shovel…some wish they had the ability to brush their teeth.

As I was actively staying positive about this (and not worrying what my 4th patient would say as I strolled in LATE), another shovel showed up, clinging to a man’s hand.  I looked around, knowing that I never saw another house within sight distance of this house.   I didn’t even see a vehicle.  I asked him 3 times where he came from…becoming increasingly convinced that he was not really human…but an angel.  (He looked sort of like the guy who opened the door earlier at my favorite convenient store.)  All three times, he pointed and said, “Over there.”  Each time, I took a moment to look in the direction where he pointed, and saw nothing but woods.  OK…I’m not going to push it.  He isn’t real…but his shovel is, so we just kept shoveling.  Soon, my Jeep was free, and he disappeared.  I stupidly didn’t watch where he went.  I sailed out of this evil driveway, and past the direction the Angel had pointed to 3 times, and there he was!  Shoveling his own driveway, which I never knew was there.   His house sat way back in the woods.  We waved to each other, and another act of kindness goes down in history.

On my way out of rural country, I saw this upside-down speed limit sign, and thought that although my day may have seemed discombobulated, it was really nothing but another wonderful day in the “neighborhood.”  I recognize and thank my random angels, and promise to repay the universe at my first opportunity(s)!

PS: My 4^th patient thought I was scheduled 45 minutes later than I thought she was scheduled…so to her, I actually showed up on time.  Whew!