Angels Unaware

     It was an image I wasn't quite ready for... a vision I'd just as soon erase.
     My day was over booked with meetings in town, the last of which ended just as I'd decided that rush hour traffic didn't need me in it...(i.e. anything past 6 was fine for me to resume my journey home to the farm)
     I stopped off at a favorite place to grab a salad...thinking it the healthy thing to do.  I came back to my Jeep only to spot a woman, stylishly dressed, hair cut in keeping with the trends...but digging...I mean digging...for her supper.
     The image stopped me cold in my tracks as I watched her pull a bagel from a trash bag in a dumpster...
     What the flip?
     Where was I ?
     Nashville.
     City life.
     2014.
     Seriously?
     To those who know me, this was not a volunteer homeless night. This was not happening on lower Broad. This was happening on the upscale side of town...At a place where I regularly buy salads...
     I had actually admired this woman's jacket from a distance before the whole dumpster digging  thing began. . .
     Having purchased my salad, I returned to order a second, thinking greens might do this woman good, if only I could catch her in time...
     But in the time it took to check out, she was gone. (I kick myself for not giving her my salad immediately. It was, after all, already purchased. But my mind wasn't that quick.)
     So to the nice lady, with fine clothing and hair cut just right...  I have your salad. I see you have your grains already But you need greens...And perhaps, other greens as well.
     I drove and drove...through park and parking lots...
     I am sufficiently convinced the woman I saw never intended to be found...
     She may've just been an angel... a mirage for one who needed a reminder of how many things (like a simple salad) are taken for granted...
     But the image of the woman in the dumpster is forever etched in my mind.
     God bless you dumpster angel...
     You changed a day.
     You touched a life.
     Without saying a word, your life made a difference.