The next to last day of the assignment I wrote about in part four, I went to an interview after work. The next morning I was offered the job. I still look back on that interview in a strange wonder. Ultimately, the job did not work out, but it sustained me through a point where I was about to give up.
From the time I asked my friend to help me with toilet paper and she went grocery shopping for me and also gave me this Uber gift card.
The following Monday, a friend gave me a ride to the bank as I had received a three-day eviction notice. It was the first day of the new job and I was too embarrassed to explain why I needed to come in late on my very first day. I had received a little bit of unemployment that was put on a credit card and as I was trying to get cash off of that card, I gave the dollar amount wrong by one dollar and so the bank couldn’t give me the cash. The bank teller advised that I needed to go to another branch to get the money off of this card, because he was only allowed to try to pull cash off of it once a day, and because I said the wrong dollar amount it locked the card for that branch for the rest of the day.
I was rocked. I had thought I would get my money order for my past due rent, drop it off at the apartment office, and then head to my first day of the new job. I sat in the lobby trying to control my sobs while I reached out to see if another friend could drive me, but realized I was better to catch the next bus.
Gift of fresh peaches from a colleague’s tree.
When I got on that bus there was a man pouring out an endless stream of insults on everybody on the bus. He wasn’t cursing, but it was vile and filthy and horrible. None of the comments were even directed at me, still it was chaotic and unsettling to my system. I prayed in my mind for God to shut him down – but God didn’t stop the man and the man’s words continued. Feeling deeply afflicted by his offensive digs and barbs I got off the bus and began walking to the next stop. The man got off at the same stop.
Gifted a ticket to the sold out women’s Christmas Gala dinner with special guest speaker.
“You have got to be kidding me, God.” I groused in my heart. Sure enough the guy followed me to the next bus stop. Honestly, by that point, I heavily suspected God was not only not stopping the man, but was actually using the man to intentionally move me to a certain point.
Furious at the whole situation, I plugged my earbuds in and rocked my Christian praise music loud as it would go and determinedly stormed down the road to the next bank. It’s really rather comic with a couple years space between now and then.
“Necessities” that I purchased with an Amazon gift card. 🙂
As I crossed in front of the bright, green grass of Lovelace women’s hospital, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see a girl I met at a one-week work assignment nine months earlier. She had chased me down after seeing me walk past her in front of the hospital where she was leaving from a check up. She shared how she had decided at the last minute to take an appointment that day and how pleased she was by the prime parking spot she landed—right by the sidewalk where I was marching past to get to the bank and my first day of a new job.
This was coming home from a day trip to Jemez Springs. I realize I count those day trips as a gift as I don’t have a car or the means to rent one.
The money order process ended up being still more complicated as it turned out what the bank teller meant was not just that I needed to go to another branch of the same bank, but I needed to actually go to a completely different bank. So, this sweet gal drove me to two different banks, then to a gas station for the money order, my apartment complex to make the payment in time to avoid eviction and finally to my new job.
I still remember our conversation about our learning on the path of recovery. We concluded our time with a prayer for each other.
To read part six, click here!
Gift of a trip to the volcanoes west of town. Every time I look at them, i get to think how I went there with my sweet friend.
