“Thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.”
It was a morning like any other.
I was driving along the winding and narrow country roads to take one of my sons to his prefectural high school. Early morning mist rose from the empty rice fields.
We passed small groups of children walking to school in their navy blue uniform shorts and blazers, legs pink from the wintry cold, regulation randoseru packs filled with books bouncing on their backs.
I dropped off my son, and after a quick goodbye, he joined the other uniformed students changing their shoes in the entranceway of the school.
On my way back home, I stopped at the one lone traffic light along my route. An elderly lady stood near the intersection. She hobbled up to my car. I rolled down the window.
“Can you give me a ride?” she asked.
Before I could answer, she had opened the car door and gotten in.
Woah! This was surprising on many levels:
- Hitchhiking in Japan is virtually unheard of.
- In my experience, such forward behavior is not normal.
- This woman is really old!
The hardy woman told me she is 98 years old — and she lives alone.
“I missed my bus. Could you take me to a bus stop on the main road?” she asked. “I need to go to the hospital.”
I can do more than that, I thought.
I asked her where she was going, and I took her to the hospital entrance.
Before she got out, and in spite of my continual refusal, she stuffed 3,000 yen (about $25) in my purse, saying, “I would have paid that much for a taxi anyway. Take it.”
Driving home, this time from a completely different direction, I marveled.
You really never know what will happen on a perfectly normal morning.
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