Friday, May 13…A Good Day For Me!

During my years as an online book seller I had to go to my local post offices from four to six days per week. I have mailed around twenty thousand orders and only had maybe ten issues with delivery. Nice folks doing a vital and demanding job.

I went there this morning, got in the line and, in front of me, there was a female dwarf. She was, I’m guessing, about 30 years old and couldn’t have been over three feet tall. She could walk only with the assistance of crutches and when her turn came, she reached up and handed the clerk a peach colored slip which indicated that she had a parcel to pick up.

My mind was racing. What if the parcel was too big for her to carry? Should I help her get it to her car? Would she be offended if I offered assistance?

The clerk returned from the back room with a small envelope and told her she needed to sign the electronic pad on the counter. He might as well have asked her to touch the ceiling. Lewis is a really exceptional postal employee and a nice guy to boot but he was stammering and hesitant as he tried to figure a way to complete the process.

I walked up to the counter and tried to lower the device to reaching distance. It didn’t work but Lewis interjected and said I could sign the electronic pad for her…which I gladly did.

She thanked me and I left my place in line to help her negotiate two sets of big swinging doors leading out of the post office. As she left the building and started towards the parking lot she paused, looked up at me, and said that I was a “nice person.”

I am a big, gruff guy but, when I finished my business in the post office, I got into my car as tears were lightly rolling down my cheeks, but not so much for this young lady as for myself. I immediately thought of what a whiner I can be at times and felt ashamed for complaining about the good life which God has given me while there are others whose burdens are so much greater than my own.

I can only imagine that when this young lady shakes her mortal coil and meets face-to-face with her maker, she will tower head-and-shoulders above all the others souls standing in judgment.

Friday, May 13, 2011, was a very good day for me because an angel called me a “Nice Person.”