Love Never Ends

Greetings!

Writing about Mary Ellen's Christmas Miracle story reminded me of an incident that happened during the restaurant years.

One afternoon, a man who was in his 30 s walked in.  My husband was in the kitchen, and I was the only one in the dining room.  The man said he just learned his father was in the hospital, and he was on his way to see him.  However, his car was out of gas.  He did not have any money with him.  He asked if I could lend him some money to buy gas.  He assured me that he would come the next day to pay me back the money.  He went on to say his father was eighty years old, and he really want to be with him in the hospital.

I looked at the man for a while.  I said: "I neither believe nor not believe in what you said.  Here is five dollars (at that time, gas was about $1.50 a gallon).  It will be enough for you to get gas to see your father.  You don't have to pay me back."  He took the $5.  He said: "I am not lying.  In order to prove that I am not lying, I will give you my I.D. card.  I assure you I will come tomorrow with the money and get my I.D. card back."  I refused to take his I.D. card, and told him it was really not necessary. However, he left it on the table, and rushed out of the door.  I put the I.D. card in a drawer, and went into the kitchen to do what I had to do.

As expected, the man did not come back the next day or the days that followed.  It wasn't a new trick that people walked into restaurants to ask for gas money.  On the fourth or fifth day, I took out the I.D. card.  I realized the I.D. card belonged to a young man, and it did not belong to the man who was in his 30 s.  I thought the man might have taken the card from somewhere.  I wanted to return the card to the rightful owner.  I looked up the names in the phone book.  There were six people in nearby cities with the same last name.  When I called the first two telephone numbers, they said they did not have a young man with that first name in their families.

When I dialed the third number, a woman answered the phone.  When I asked if there was such a young man in her family, she seemed to be very surprised.  She said it was her son.  She asked about the situation behind my call.  I told her what happened.  

In a low and sad voice, she said her son had passed away two years ago.  

I was shocked.   I said:  "I am so sorry for your loss."  I felt very bad.  My call must have caused her to feel sad again.  I tried to apologize.  I said: "I am very sorry that I call . . . . ."  

The woman said, "No, no, no.  Please don't feel sorry."  

Over the phone, I seemed to hear the woman talking to a man.  Then the woman said: "It is no accident that you call.  Today is our son's birthday.  We are talking about him when you call."  She paused for a while, and said: "We miss him.  In fact, we are glad that you call.  Thank you."  

I only looked at the name and the picture of the young man.  I had not noted the birth date on the I.D. card.  Life was (is) full of surprises.  I believed the young man's love for his parents must have played a role in inspiring me to call on that particular day.   

Love never ends.  Love Is.

Peace,
Q of D