Merry Christmas – Soapy Edition

 

It was that time of the year again. Soapy and the misses were making their way north to spend Christmas with Soapy Junior, his bride and the grandkids. It was a pretty long trek from the sunny south where he’d finally dropped anchor in retirement but seeing family and old friends was well worth it.

He was about six hours into that twelve-hour jaunt when the tank was getting low and both he and the wife’s you know what’s were getting a bit over full!  So it was time to make a stop for food, gas and a potty break (but not exactly in that order). After that first essential task was handled, they thought they’d hit the fast-food restaurant beside the gas stop and then gas up the truck.

As they left the restaurant there sat a young woman with two kids. She had a small sign that simply said, “Merry Christmas, God blessed me”. There was no request for money for rent or food. Soapy couldn’t help but ask her if she needed any help. Softly she said, “No. I have a place to live, food in the pantry and gifts for my kids. I’m simply giving thanks for my good fortune when so many of the people near me have so little”.

As soapy filled the truck he thought about that simple statement and realized how fortunate he was and how blessed most of his friends and family were. After topping off the tank, he walked over, gave the young woman a fifty and asked her to help one of those neighbors. As he reentered the freeway, he knew that sometimes what seems like a coincidence was well maybe often providence.