Monday, March 8, 2010

A Gift

We received an email a few days ago from the FOA (Foreign Affairs Office). The message said we had a gift waiting for us in their office for "Happy Woman's Day". I had two classes this morning, met some friends for lunch and decided I had enough time to swing by the FAO before my next class started.
It was raining hard at this point and I had my bag over my shoulder and braced my umbrella against the wind with both hands. I arrived to the fourth floor of the office building, walked down the hall and was greeted by a smiling face. Our Happy Woman's Day gift turned out to be boxes of Welch's grape juice!
Each box had four glass bottles and they were heavy. I got two boxes because she asked if I could take Kyle's too. Walking down the hallway with this heavy load I didn't know how I was going to juggle these boxes and an umbrella at the same time. 
A few ideas were flying through my head: I could have held both boxes with two hands and just trudged through the rain with no umbrella - but I would have been soaked for my next class. I also thought maybe I could hide them somewhere in a building and come get them after class - this was risky too because I could miss the bus home...
The elevator door opened and it had only one occupant. One of my students from this morning's class! She noticed I was struggling and took one of the boxes out of my hands and said, "I will help you go where you need to go." She walked all the way across campus in the rain carrying my box of juice!
The very moment I wondered how I was going to make it I was sent a gift.

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