Hildi

The only reason that I know Hildi is because she needed formula for her baby. I posted an ad on Craigslist to give away some formula and coupons that came to me in the mail, which I have no need for. Surely someone out there could use it. She responded, and I called to offer it to her yesterday. She called me right back, polite and as thankful as can be.
"I can come and get it tomorrow, and I will call you on the way since I will be taking the bus." she said.
"Where are you coming from?" I asked.
"Out Cornell Road". My gut sank. I couldn't stand the thought of this young mom traveling 2 hours across town to n.e. Portland on a bus with her baby for 2 cans of formula and about $20.00 worth of coupons.
"I will drop it off for you tomorrow....it's no problem."
So this morning after taking the boys to school I headed in her direction. I found her apartment complex. Brown.Drab.Lots of units, and definitely low-income housing.
As I circled the roundabout, I saw a young gal, probably about 20 years old, standing in the cold wind waiting for me--right where she said she would be.
I gave her the formula. She called me an angel and was as grateful as you could ever imagine. "Thank-you, thank-you." She said that her husband's paycheck for his part time job at Winco will be there on Friday, but this will tide them over until then.
We made small talk, and she told me that this is her and her husband's first apartment--they looked for housing in Washington State for the past year, and with no rental history, they couldn't get a place. This place had accepted them, and they found their paradise. But she said it took every single penny that they had in order to move here. They don't have a car. They went for the first 2 weeks of December with literally no food. She worries about her 10 month old son being hungry. A highlight of their Christmas season was that Lowe's (where she had a job before moving) gave them a tree that was decorated with lights and ornaments. I have never heard someone sound so gracious to have received this so that her son would have a Christmas. He even got some 'new' toys from a local church. As we talked, she never sounded bitter, or like she was asking for anything. She was just describing her world.
These people are struggling....really struggling. As we wrapped up our chit-chatting, she told me about her goal to get back in school to be a nurse. She had already taken a few classes towards this. She has goals and a plan for how to get there. From my 5 minute conversation with this young gal, I have no doubt that she will make it someday, but her road sure looked long to me. And daunting.
I reached in my purse and handed her a $20.00 bill. "Please take this and get something that you need for your family." "No, no, no...I can't." "We're fine...really," she said. Her pride was too big, and so were the tears that started to well up in her eyes as she stood there. She resisted a few more times, but then finally reached in and accepted my offering. Tears are contagious, and before we knew it we were two strangers wiping away our tears together. There was something about this girl that I really liked.
She'll never know it, but Hildi and I both got something valuable from our exchange off of Cornell Road today~for her, formula to feed her baby for the next week, and for me, a poignant reminder about being gracious and thankful.