This morning I walked into Starbucks for my “one more day
until the weekend” coffee. There were just a couple of people in line, but
standing slightly back from the counter was a young woman with bare feet, faded
blue hair working its way into dreds and an old t-shirt and drawstring pants. The first thing that caught my eye was her hair. She was slightly older than my oldest daughter and I immediately remembered her blue hair disaster about five years ago. She was holding an empty water jug and had come in to get some water. Five
years ago, I never would have paid much attention to her. I would have assumed
she was a young, somewhat rebellious youth who was looking for something.
However with my experiences over the last few years working for the Homeless
Count in January, hearing about the women in need as our church partnered with
the YWCA to open Angelina’s Women’s Center and then watching the birth of
Sophia Way, I have learned a thing or two about this issue. She was barefoot,
with a few bangs and bruises and pretty grubby. She was standing quietly, not making a
scene and waiting for an opportunity to ask for water. I mentally went through all the telltale signs and quickly determined that she was most
likely homeless and if not, certainly she was far from home. I don’t know if
she had any money back in her van, but clearly she was there in Starbucks with
nothing more than a pair of pants, a shirt on her back and her empty water jug.
When the Starbucks employee, came out behind her counter to
take the container, she was appreciative and I thought I detected just a bit of
embarrassment. When I got to the counter to order, I asked her if she’d like a
coffee. It took her a few seconds to process the question and when she did, her
face lit up and she said “really?” I encouraged her to order and her first
question was “what’s good”? So the young woman at the counter and I walked her
through a couple of simple questions, “what do you like?” “Strong”, “Do you
want sweet?”, “No, just strong.” She was clearly out of her element in the land
of $5.00 lattes, and a bit intimidated, but she was curious, bright and
appreciative. The gal at the counter steered her toward a drip coffee and then
proceeded to grab the largest possible cup and fill it up with just enough room
for cream. Once she added cream and took
a long first drink, the look on her face was priceless. “That’s so good!” She
picked up her now filled jug of water, thanked the Starbucks person who helped
her and stopped and looked at me. “Thank you so much!”
Now the interesting thing is that I have a feeling that this
experience has had a significantly bigger effect on my day than it did on hers. It
humbled me, put my life into perspective very quickly, and reminded me how
important it is to focus on helping those who have less than me. I was so
appreciative that I had taken enough time to actually assess the situation
instead of falling into my old assumptions. I was thankful that I knew enough about
homelessness that I could see both the obvious and the subtle signs. And mostly
I was thankful that I had enough in my pocket that I could share with this
clearly bright, and appreciative young woman.
And the most amazing part of this morning? I got to walk
into my office and work on finding new ways to build homes to house her and others in her situation. I’ll never know her life story, but for a few
brief moments this morning, we shared one of those life moments that I won’t
soon forget.
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