To Do

On my to-do list this week:

1. Grocery Shopping
2. Return Emails and Phone Calls
3. Make friends with an Iraqi National seeking asylum and then take her apartment hunting
4. Continue to work on potty training Tres
5. Register for CCD for next year

Pretty standard week, I'd say. Managed to accomplish everything on my list. Oh, but wait. Number three wasn't actually on my list, but it is how I spent yesterday.

You just have to love living near a world capital.

Here's how it went. Tres, Catfish and I rode the metro into Pentagon City to go to the fab mall they have there for a quick lunch and some speedy shopping. On the way home from the mall, a lovely lady sat right next to Catfish--this freaked him out a bit since he is used to having his own aisle on the metro, so at the next stop he kindly excused himself and went to sit on another unoccupied window seat. As he passed by the lady, she bent over and kissed the top of his head and just smiled. I tell you, she just radiated niceness.

As we reached the station she began to ask me questions about whether or not this was a nice area and were there reasonable apartments nearby? I told her a few tidbits about what we liked here and then we parted ways. I headed up one escalator and she walked over to the bus lines.

Two minutes later, something (I dunno, the Holy Spirit, her kind demeanor, SOMETHING) made me turn around and go back to look for her. I found her talking to a taxi driver and I initially just thought I'd give her my number or offer to point her in a good direction, but before I realized what I was doing, I asked her if she wanted a ride to the apartment she was going to see. She graciously accepted and we walked over to my car.

Now mind you, at this point, I have NO IDEA who she is, why she is here, nothing. I have merely just picked up a stranger at the train station and offered to drive her around my neighborhood. And yet somehow, it wasn't odd at all.

Once we settled into the car she told me that she was from Iraq and had been living in another city further south for a few months. She and her family have been in exile in Jordan since 2004 but she was in DC to apply for asylum. She's a grandmother and an engineer who worked for several international companies and now hopes to bring the rest of her family here.

I told her a little about my family and how we just moved here; about how I can only imagine how difficult it must be to try and start over in a new country without knowing the areas or the people. She told me over and over how she had always tried to do good in her life and how God was taking care of her now with this trip. I agreed that God was good and at the same time, told her this wasn't something I normally did. I mean, I may have a tiny wild side----but picking up strangers at train station and ferrying them about town isn't on my usual list of escapades.

We drove around for about an hour, talking and sharing--just enough. We didn't discuss politics or world events, but families and having babies. She phoned her friend that would be meeting her at the train station and we agreed on a drop off point. As I pulled up to the station we exchanged phone numbers and a hug. She said she would keep me in her prayers. I told her that she and her family would be in mine as well.

And then I went through the drive-thru at Popeyes and headed over to the carpool line for Sparky. My Iraqi househunting trip had come to an end.

It was a most bizarre afternoon.

I don't know why she decided to sit next to my family on that particular train. I don't have any idea why I was compelled to follow her in the metro station. I'm sure my sons thought their mom had gone off the deep end by inviting a stranger into our car. And I'm thankful my husband wasn't completely taken off guard by my re-telling of the events (he knows me SO well). I don't have any explanations for any of it. I'm just glad to have had the day go the way it did. It left me giddy. It gave me hope for the future. It certainly won't change world affairs but it reminded both of us that there are nice people in the world to connect with. It was a bizarre afternoon, but absolutely perfect.

I wish only the best for my new Iraqi friend.