Seamstress

I picked her in a classic Victorian neighborhood just north of downtown.  It was a simple ride to LODO on a glorious spring day.   We began an affable conversation about “life in general”.  She was warm, articulate, insightful  and curious about my Lyft stories.  The often asked “What was your most interesting ride”? came up. I answered “Well, with almost 4200 rides, I have them in categories: ridiculous, sublime, bizarre, sad, common and mean, to mention a few”. 

I told her of two back-to-backrides I gave a couple of weeks ago.  “I picked him up at a hotel close to the airport.  He spilled his luggage and skis on the curb.  When he got in my car he was pretty disheveled.  ‘I booked my flight home on the wrong month’.  Turns out he is a long time professor (absent minded) at Harvard.  He immigrated here from Switzerland 35 years ago.  He was a fascinating man, who was grateful and generous.  My very next ride was a woman who drives a van for an airport parking lot.  I recognized her destination when it came up on the app.  We were headed to a transitional housing facility operated by the Rescue Mission downtown, whose task is to move homeless women back into self sufficiency.  ‘I have a real job that I love.  I am going to get my own place’ she blurted out. When I pulled up to the Rescue Mission outpost she literally skipped to the door. Within 30 minutes I had two wonderful humans in my front seat whose lives could not have been more different”.

I then asked her what she does.  “I am a seamstress”.  I admit, she was my first seamstress that I was aware, to whom I had given a ride.  We pulled up to her destination. I asked her if she had a couple of minutes.  She said in the kindest manner “Take all the time you need”.  So I pulled out my iPad and showed her the picture I am showing you.  “That’s my granddaughter Zoe, she is nine.  She made that”.  “Very nice”.  “Yep, she gets it…You either do or you don’t”.  She totally agreed.  There are those folk who give out warmth in their presence, and she was one. I suspect the clothes she creates radiate joy.  Sharing that moment with her made my day.  Another ride I won’t forget.

This Easter Day… be a radiator!!!

Onward and Upward,

Mark