This is not a usual Monday.... It’s almost like time has stopped, or rather, has taken on a new dimension.... days seem to fly by because we keep very busy while sheltering in place, and yet it feels like it was months ago that we were visiting friends, going to church, shopping, and it was only two weeks ago....
In the midst of Zoom meetings, surfing the web, deep house cleaning, creative cooking and energetic exercising - all of it punctuated by an ongoing conversation with God - we were finally able to get through on the very busy online grocery shopping system! After looking multiple times, day and night, for an open delivery time slot, we were finally successful and oh, so excited at the prospect of getting much awaited groceries the following Wednesday....
The Day came.... and a text: “we are getting your order ready....” Then, a few minutes later, another one: “the following two items are not currently available”.... ok, no big deal, so excited to get the other things! So we waited and waited..... Finally, victory! “your order has been delivered”! The cellphone, carrier of such wonderful news, was quickly thrown on the counter as we all rushed to the front door. A happy bunch we were! But the reveal was quite shocking: not the slightest familiar brown paper bag in sight.... just the flower pots pitifully showcasing dead plants left over from a more glorious past.... they seemed to reflect our sadness and disappointment....
So what next? Agreement and resolution: we need to get some food in! So we created a three fold plan: 1. call Amazon to let them know the situation (excellent customer service, they refunded the total cost), 2. place another order (and, once again, brave the challenge of finding a delivery time slot... worth it, we found one for two days later), 3. research the web for similar street addresses in the area, curious to find an explanation to the “mishap”. As it happened, we found two exact same street addresses in nearby towns....
Soon after our initial frustration, we realized that our groceries probably went to a home that needed them more than we did and decided to call the two families not only to verify our theory, but most especially to reassure the recipients that it was fine to keep the food.
A nice woman answered from house number one. She was apparently thrilled to talk to someone for a few minutes, a nice diversion in her confined situation! But she was absolutely unaware of any miraculous food dropped at her door.
Call number two was answered by a young man who explained that he did not live there anymore, but his parents did and he would check with them. That was Thursday and we were prepared to not hear any more about it. With Friday came our new grocery order. Not all of the items were available, but we were thrilled!
Sunday, beautiful online service at St Luke’s. In the afternoon, sadness suddenly invaded the house.... Missing the face to face togetherness, the familiar people at the store, the walks next to other fellow humans, the classes that were canceled, and so much more that we take for granted.
That’s when we realized that we had not listened to a voicemail left a couple of days earlier by an unknown number with a strange caller ID, therefore labeled as not interesting. For some reason (?) we decided to listen to it.... Well , it was the father of the man we talked to about the groceries asking to call him back!
The phone was answered on the first ring by a very nice man, concerned about the groceries delivered to them without any recipient’s name, but at the same time happy about the surprise gift of food! Reassured that we were fine, he stated that he liked everything except for the naan bread! He explained that he was on a carb free diet. We told him that we had ordered the bread for nuns, friends of ours, who particularly like that type of bread. Interested, he asked us if they were catholic nuns? Yes. So he went on to explain that his two aunts were nuns, one in town, the other one up north. We looked at each other with the same thought.... could it be possible?? Would your aunts’ names be Juliette and Sylvia?? YES! Our common surprise was almost comical! The conversation was transformed and from perfect strangers a few minutes earlier we became acquainted just like that, thanks to a loaf of bread that was to be shared! Sound familiar?....
There are no coincidences! God has mysterious ways to take care of all of us: free food for some people who could use it, good conversation with a lonely neighbor, and such a joy for us to have been used for His purpose!
Seeds of friendship are being planted all over that might blossom when this totally unique time will be past. What beautiful gardens in the making....
Brigitte Bartolucci
Saco, Maine