A Kindhearted Woman

Hoboes traveling the countryside used to utilize a simple system that alerted other travelers where they might find help or comfort. They would leave a drawing on the side of a building or a house. When the drawing was of a cat, it meant that there was a kind hearted woman inside....
Well, after the Cullman McDonalds debacle, I needed something to cheer me up, and
it took only a few hours for something cool to happen today. Allow me to introduce you to my second incredibly special heroic person. Her name is Judy Hall.
I left Cullman and headed toward Hartselle, Alabama, some 23 or so miles away, to the north and. As I walked along the highway, up and down steep hills, my feet really began to hurt. Walking level roads is not too bad, but the stress that hills up and down put on the feet creates a whole other kind of pain, and I was pretty sore by the time I reached the top of the mountain and was dreading the long downhill slope ahead. I had just begun the descent when through my headphones, (playing the Who, by the way) I heard someone yelling. I turned around and a woman was walking toward me shouting something. I pulled off my headphones and stopped walking. “What can I do for you?” I asked her.
She replied that she was wondering what she could do for ME. I told her I was really in need of a shower, but if that was too much to ask, I understood. She said it wasn’t a problem at all, and we headed the 100 or so feet to her house, where I had just walked past. She told me her name was Judy Hall, and earlier had seen me walking down yet another big hill, but when she was able to turn around to find me I had disappeared. (Went into a park to rest for a few). She came home and was just sitting down to watch television when she “the tail end of me go by” is how I think she phrased it. She showed me to a room that her brother had used when he was visiting and said if I wanted to spend the night there I was more than welcome. She also showed me the shower and brought out soap, shampoo, towels and everything a weary and footsore traveller might want or need. I took a nice shower, threw on fresh clothes and joined Judy inher living room. She told me her story.
Fifty five years old, and with a very badly deteriorating back, Judy lives on a small monthly SS check, in a house that is too big for her and she is almost trapped. Moving is too expensive and staying put is just as bad. Years ago she was homeless for a while and lived rough, very rough, and suffered abuse and more at the hands of people both familiar and strangers. She knows the pain and shame of homelessness and thought that I was homeless when she saw my pathetic form strolling along today, and she wanted to help. She took a chance allowing a stranger into her home, but her intuition told her I was okay, and she went with her instincts, to my eternal gratitude.
The conversation started with food talk. She had made some chicken casserole and wanted to know if I wanted some. I helped myself to not enough, because I didn’t want to seem too hungry. I have to learn to not worry about that. When people offer food…eat it! Lesson No. 1 from the road!
We sat and talked at length about life and its vagaries. A Christian woman, Judy has of late gotten interested in eastern religions and philosophies. She is reading a book by Deepak Chopra and has a small shrine of elephants and pearls in her living room. She told me she is interested in going to India but its not affordable.
She lives alone but does not seem lonely. She kept reassuring me that she wasn’t interested in “anything from me” and was almost trying too hard to be the perfect hostess. No worries, Judy, if you read this. You were a great hostess, and I can’t thank you enough for having the grace and kindness in your soul to take a leap of faith to help a stranger whom you though might need help. And thank you for the gift of your late brother’s clothes, which will serve me well on the trek ahead.
I was lacking a paintbrush, but if I had one, there would be a cat on Judy Hall's wall...