I have a daughter who is the adult version of ADHD. Her lack of focus causes her to constantly “shoot herself in the foot.” When she was little, well-meaning folks would tell us that if we didn’t intervene, and she suffered the consequences of her behavior, she would eventually learn. What they didn’t understand is that she DID suffer the consequences of her behavior over and over and over again. She is nearly 40 and is still doing so.
A couple of months ago this inability to keep the pieces of her life put together caused her to allow her auto insurance to lapse. Most of us would not have allowed this to happen, because we pay attention to things like bills and notices of termination. But, she went on her merry and oblivious way. Early in December she was short on money and hoping she could make it to and from work with the gas in the tank. She got to work, but not home. She left the car on the side of the road, hitch-hiked home, and begged a few dollars here and there from neighbors, planning to hitch-hike back with a can of gas. By this time, a passing policeman had noticed the car, run the plate numbers, and determined that her insurance had lapsed for 15 days in September. The plates were confiscated and the car impounded.
Daughter has trouble holding a job…of course. Someone who lacks focus does have difficulty showing up on time and doing their work. Besides that, when one is doing the modern equivalent of "ditch-digging," one is not always treated well by employers, and she has gotten some rotten deals. She has done relatively well at the current job and desperately wants to keep it. So, for the 15 days she had to go without plates and therefore, her car, she tried every conceivable way of getting to work. She apparently wore out the generosity and patience of all her friends, acquaintances and enemies. A couple of nights ago, the person who was to pick her up at 9 PM and take her home, did not show up.
And so it was, that after 10 PM, she called me sobbing. I, by the way, live at the other end of the state, so I could not help her. She was trying to walk the 14 miles home in the dark and cold of December in New York. She was walking with traffic on a busy highway hoping someone would take pity and pick her up. I could hear the cars whizzing by. She called 3 times, as it became increasingly apparent that she simply couldn’t walk 14 miles in the cold. I tried to think of possible solutions to the dilemma. The buses don’t run after 9 PM. A taxi all the way home would take more money than she had. She talked of trying to go to a friend’s house along the way, or spending the night in the bus station. Finally, I suggested that she try finding a shelter….she was within the limits of a small city…perhaps, the city had some shelters.
Between these phone calls, I prayed. “Oh, Lord,” I said, “I have no idea how to solve this problem. She isn’t safe. Please have mercy. In your grace, send her an angel. I don’t know what else to pray for.”
She called back a few minutes later. She had called the police, and they were coming to pick her up. I thought that if there was a shelter available, surely they would know of it. I couldn’t go to sleep wondering where she was, and if she would be safe and warm.
The phone rang again. “I’m home,” she said.
The policeman who had picked her up had been given permission to take her as far as the interstate exit nearest her home. He had pushed a bit beyond his permission and delivered her to her doorstep.
The next day, she walked the 3-plus miles to the end of the bus route and caught the bus in to the DMV. She picked up her plates, took the bus back to the end of the route, and began the 3-plus mile walk home. Along came a different policeman, who picked her up, lectured her about the dangers of walking with the traffic on a busy highway, and delivered her to her front door.
I have no idea what municipalities these two policemen work for……city, county or state. That is, I don’t know who pays them. I do know who they were working for in regard to this story. They were the answer to my prayers. God sent some “angels in blue.”
