It was so great running into Joan. I had been watching for her for a few weeks, since I didn’t have the opportunity to stop and chat last time I caught a glimpse of her. Today, though, the slight and elderly lady stood in the sun with her usual smile. There was a lot of traffic zooming by her in the hectic parking lot, but she had lots of space. The cars weren’t bothering with her at all or stopping to read the sign she wore around her neck.
‘Sorry to ask, but I need some money for groceries. Any amount will help and will be greatly appreciated,’ her sign read.
I’m rarely at this large grocery store, but clearly many people are. The parking lot was overflowing, and people seemed frantic to get out of there as they sped past. The first time I saw Joan there was no place to stop, and slowing down seemed like it might be taking my life in my hands. So I just moved on, like everybody else.
But I thought of her each day since then and ventured back to that spot a few times to find her. Today was jackpot! Here she was, still all alone in the swarm of cars passing by. We chatted for a bit after I slipped her some money. Yes, she has lodging in a basement and some boxes of macaroni on hand, for which she is very grateful, she assures me. She doesn’t want to embarrass anyone, but she’s finding it hard to afford a few healthy vegetables.
The more time I spent with Joan, the older I realized she was. Clearly her 70s and part of her 80s were in the rearview mirror – those years that might shed light on how she came to be standing here with her sign. But here she is nonetheless, full of positivity and kindness, and I’m not going to just drive right by. For my time and my bit of money, she would remember me in her prayers, she told me. She would remember me?
Oddly, down the road that same day, I was waiting at the laundromat for my dog’s little bed to be finished its cycle. My dog has a cozy fluffy mattress that is too big for my home washer. I was checking my phone while another elderly woman was lifting her meagre few clean garments from a nearby washing machine. There wasn’t room to own much, she mentioned, given that she was living in her car at the moment. ‘But just until something else comes up,’ she said. She was good-natured and optimistic about the whole thing. She had just relocated from Vancouver, after all, and she knew it would take time before things fell into place for her. But then she held up a simple pink t-shirt and shared her disappointment that threads were already streaming from the seams after this first wash. The new shirt was clearly meant to last much longer than it was going to. Another Joan, I thought, another person who is struggling in the end phase of her life.
There are always people who have more than us and less than us. Enjoy yourself during this Senior’s Week – you’ve lived long and worked hard and deserve to be pampered and celebrated. But please remember Joan – we all know a Joan. There are some seniors among us who could really use a hand.
