Looks Can Be Deceiving
Most teens can't wait to learn to drive.
Not so with me. Driving made me nervous. I didn't get a
license until I turned 24 years old.
As a result, when I first married, we only had one car and car
pooled to work. My husband's hours were different from mine by one
hour. I worked earlier. So he dropped me off and went to the diner
to drink coffee until work time.
Then, in the afternoons, I leisurely walked the three miles to
his work place where I waited in his car, reading a book.
One day while waiting for him, I noticed the most beautiful
Cadillac pull in the lot. It was powder blue and sleek looking. The
kind of car you dream about. I was busily admiring the car, when I
noticed the driver. Honestly, she was probably the prettiest woman I
had ever seen off the movie screen.
She pulled into the spot beside our car and it was all I could
do not to stare. There was a striking resemblance to Liz Taylor.
Jet black hair and alabaster skin. Our eyes made contact and she
smiled at me. Her eyes were as blue as the sea, and teeth like an
even row of pearls. She was wearing a light blue shirt that just
matched her car. Peeking through her long, softly curled hair I
could see gold hoop earrings. They had to be gold to shine like that.
A couple of minutes later, a nice looking man came out the
building, entered her car, leaned over and kissed her and she drove
away.
Sitting there in my jeans, shirt and hair in a pony tail, I
wanted to cry. How could some people have it all?
Maybe I would have forgotten about her, but the following week,
I saw her again. Then it became almost routine to see her about once
a week. She seemed friendly and always waved, flashing a big smile.
My envy lingered long after she drove away.
Many nights when sleep evaded me, I would think about the
beautiful lady. I wondered if she and her husband ate out, and where
they dined, and what she was wearing. I wanted her to get out of the
car and let me see her full length. Did she wear really high heeled
shoes and pants, or a skirt.
I would get my answers in a couple of weeks.
Sitting in our usual parking lot, I was holding my book,
watching her over the top of it. She was waiting and when her
husband came to the car, she called to him. They spoke a few words
and he opened the car door for her to step out. He took her arm and
helped her out of the car. I could see very well as she moved to get
out. She was wearing a skirt.
She haltingly walked around to the passenger side very slowly,
leaning on a walking cane. Sitting sideways in the car, she lifted
one leg with her hands and then the other one. The beautiful lady
had a prosthesis on the left leg and a brace on the right leg.
I couldn't watch them drive away as the tears were blinding me.
For weeks I had envied this woman and her way of life, while I
had been able to walk three miles to our car!
When my husband arrived and found me crying, he immediately
asked what was wrong. Through my tears, I told him about the
beautiful lady. He said he knew her husband and also knew the story.
The beautiful lady and her parents were in a car that either stalled
or got caught on the railroad tracks and was hit by a train. Both
parents were killed and she was severely injured. She was only 12
years old.
The railroad made a large settlement with her because the
crossing had no signals. He explained her car was specially built
for her needs as well as the home.
I prayed for forgiveness all the way home. The lady I thought
had everything, didn't. I thanked God over and over for my legs, arms
and sight, and for teaching me a lesson early on in life.
When you meet a person who seems to be much better off than you,
don't be fooled. I would not have traded places with the beautiful
lady for anything -- I still had my parents, and the ability to walk,
run or dance through life. Wonderful things money can't buy.
~ Clara Wersterfer ~
<cbwest at webtv.net> Copyrigtht © 2010
[ by: Clara Wersterfer, Copyright © 2010, ( cbwest at webtv.net ) -- {used with permission} ]
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