Passing connection provides holiday gift

I was walking our dog in front of our building ... I saw a bus coming and I waved and gave a thumbs-up sign to the driver as he passed. He saw me and waved back. It did my heart good to do that and that he acknowledged me.

Jack Friel

Editor’s note: Clearly, the coronavirus is testing everyone’s patience and resolve. Yet, amid the uncertainty, a resilient spirit thrives. To provide a bit of a diversion from the news around us, we’ve asked our community contributors to share their personal stories of optimism during these troubling times. Their stories will appear frequently. We hope you find them inspirational. We hope they provide you with some perspective. And we hope they remind you, as captured in some of their personal stories, we are all in this together.

‘A Christmas Eve Story’

It was not long after the COVID-19 pandemic started that I was watching a TV show on which Alicia Keys was featured. She mentioned how important the work was of medical staff and front-line workers, but she also stressed how important the work was of all the other many essential people who keep our communities functioning, including truck drivers, bus drivers, delivery people, grocery store people, maintenance, utility and sanitation workers.

The next evening when I was walking our dog in front of our building on Clairmont Road just up from the VA

Hospital in Decatur, I saw a bus coming and I waved and gave a thumbs-up sign to the driver as he passed. He saw me and waved back. It did my heart good to do that and that he acknowledged me. I checked the time. Every evening thereafter, I was out walking our dog when the MARTA bus on Route 19 came by between 8:20 and 8:25, waved and gave a thumbs-up. The bus driver would flash his lights or toot his horn. Over time, we had formed a connection.

In August, I had a stroke, was hospitalized, and went through physical and occupational therapies on a slow road to recovery. When I was again able to get out and walk our dog, I tried to be out around the 8:208:25 time slot in hopes of resuming the connection with my unknown bus driver friend. It didn’t happen.

Then, because of a Christmas Eve gathering of several friends in our building, I got a late start in walking our dog. It was about 9:45 p.m. when I saw a Route 19 bus approaching. I was surprised when, in response to my wave, the bus stopped, the door opened and a voice boomed out, “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!!” I told him I had had a stroke but was doing better, and that I was glad to see him. We wished each other Merry Christmas, and he drove away.

I still don’t know him, but he made my day. I thought what a wonderful Christmas gift it was to know that he cared enough to see an old dog walker, stop for a moment and wish me a Merry Christmas. Drive safely, my friend.