When we lived in Texas there was a huge new development being built a few miles north of where we lived in Plano. They called it a subdivision, but being Texas, it was more like a whole new metropolis arising out of this humongous chunk of farmland sold to developers. Christmas of 1988, the girls and I rode up and walked about the model home which was decorated for the holidays. It was beautiful, but it was also apparent that this subdivision would be ‘way out of our price range.
The next year,
for the 4th of July, I read in the local paper that there were going
to be fireworks just before dawn at the new metropolis. Well that sounded like
a fun excursion – I was guessing not many people would have seen the notice in
the paper and even fewer would want to get up before dawn on a holiday? We
could go and have the fireworks almost all to ourselves!
Turns out everyone in the
State of Texas was heading toward the fireworks that morning! We hit bumper to
bumper traffic within a couple miles of home. We sat there on the road in the
stopped traffic in the dark. After a couple of hours, we saw a few fireworks in
the distance. Then the sun rose, and we went home. Real bummer.
Not long after
that the new metropolis came to my attention once again. The girls and I were
watching Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood on PBS on morning. It was
fund-raising time, and it was announced that the new mega subdivision had built
a house and had donated it to PBS! Wow!
The local PBS
station was having an auction, and the home would go to the highest bidder!
To help
publicize the event, Mr. McFeely, the Speedy Delivery mailman from Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, was going to
be in town at the donated house at a certain time to sign autographs!
Once again, I
thought this was something fun that would not attract too big a crowd – so the
girls and I headed up there at the specified day and time.
I was almost
wrong again.
The traffic
getting to the subdivision was not bumper to bumper or even especially
concentrated, but there was a long line waiting to see Mr. McFeely (played by
an actor named David Newell). He was sitting at a card table inside a tent set
up in front of the PBS auction house.
I don’t know
if Sarah, who was five, or Amanda, who was three, were really interested in meeting
Mr. McFeely, but their Mom thought it would be neat. And so we stood in the
long line. The girls might enjoy being able to tell people in future years that
they met Mr. McFeely and have an autographed picture!
Now, for
reasons I won’t go into here, this was not a good time in my life. I was sad
most of the time. Standing in that long line that day, I tried to squelch what
I was feeling, and I filled my mind with
the happy thoughts of being with my two adorable daughters and doing something
fun with them and fun for them.
We got to the
table. Mr. McFeely said hello to the girls, looking them in the eyes. He took a
photograph from his stack and started to sign his name. He asked Amanda and
Sarah how they were doing that day? They said, “Fine.”
Then he looked
up at me! It took a moment to
establish eye contact. Mr. McFeely asked, “And how is Mom?”
He didn’t have
to do that, but he did – he asked how I was. And that got through my veneer and
my sad and touched the part of me that had been long forgotten – the part that
said I was worth something.
I stammered
out, “Fine, thank you.”
He handed the
photo to the girls. We said thank you and stepped aside.
We can’t solve
everyone’s problems.
Mr. McFeely asked, “How is
Mom?”
And that made a difference.
Would that we could
all be the sparks of hope for others in need.
347 20151213 Speedy Delivery
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| McKinney, Texas 1989 |
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