A Mother’s Story, Angels On Park Avenue

By Ginny Johnson

I have a disabled daughter named Sarah, and the experiences that come with that are sometimes priceless. They are the kind of experiences that when you tell them to someone else, they look at you like you’re insane. Now, Sarah is going to be 25 this year, and in those 25 years I have seen many things that just make me shake my head in wonder. Things happen around her that make you believe there are angels present in this world. This past Tuesday was just another example of angels.

You see, every Tuesday I take her swimming down at St Bart’s Church on 50^th and Park. They have a wonderful program there called Swimworks where they have a therapist work one on one in the pool with Sarah.   It is a great experience for Sarah as she loves the water and becomes a totally different person. She goes from sitting in her wheelchair with her head down to moving freely on her own with her head up and a big smile on her face.

Well, this Tuesday when we left the pool it had just started to rain. I texted our driver that we were heading out to Park Avenue in front of the church and to meet us there. As he was pulling up to the curb, a man walked by pushing an older woman in a wheelchair and holding an umbrella over her head. The woman was obviously a Madison Avenue type. She had on a lovely coat and matching fancy hat, you know the kind with a silk band and flower. So, as our driver pulls up, we start to push Sarah in her wheelchair to the car. The man, stops pushing the fancy lady, leaves her on the sidewalk in the rain and runs to put the umbrella over Sarah’s head. Mind you, Sarah’s hair is still damp from swimming!! We turn to the man and say thank you, she’s ok, but he insists on holding the umbrella until she is safely in the car. Meanwhile, the fancy lady is waiting patiently for him to return. Now, honestly I don’t know why he did this. Maybe she told him to put the umbrella over the child, or maybe he just decided to do it on his own. I’ll never know the answer to that question. It’s funny though, my husband Keith was with me and he bent his head to Sarah and whispered…”did you call ahead?’’..Sarah said nothing.

So, the moral of this story is two fold. Sarah has people, and her people are angels. I hope the fancy lady understands that the man pushing her wheelchair that day was an angel on Park Avenue. I thank all the angels out there that take the time to help those people that are different from them.

Editor’s note: Happy Mother’s day.