Terabith Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 So there’s this thing where a lot of refugees or immigrants who are being released from detention (usually in Texas) are being sent via bus to family. These are folks going cross country with nothing but the clothes on their backs, no money, often with children, not infrequently sick, spending days on a bus in route to family. Bus frequently stops in our town for 20 minutes or an hour, so some groups of people around the country are arranging with each other so that when the bus stops in their town, they meet the bus and give folks on it food and water, menstrual supplies, medications, sometimes small toys for the kids. We’v been trying to help out, since my husband speaks a little Spanish. This story is not about any of these people. Last night my husband went to meet the bus at 10 pm. It was nine hours late because it was held up in Knoxville for some reason. We are becoming very aware of how sucky traveling via Greyhound is. My husband met and distributed supplies to about 20 people on their way to Richmond. There was a man from Michigan who spoke only Spanish, who was not a part of this group, getting off here to meet family about 30 minutes away. But since the bus was nine hours late, his family wasn’t there to meet him and weren’t answering the phone. So my husband calls me at 11:30 pm and says, “Is it okay if I bring home a guy to sleep on our couch?” Well, we really believe in radical hospitality, but honestly I am a little weirded out by the idea of a strange man sleeping on my couch, partly because my house and said couch is really messy. But...okay. So I turn to 15 year old daughter who is sitting on the couch and say, “Quick! We have to clean off the couch.” We get everything off the couch and I send Anna to take a shower before they get home. They arrive and guy is middle aged, very nice, speaks almost no English. I make up the bed and get him a towel and all that jazz. We go to bed, but before we do, I ask my husband if we should wake up our 13 year old to tell her there’s a random man sleeping on the couch. My husband says no, that she will probably sleep through the night and if she doesn’t, she’ll just come into our room and probably won’t notice the man on the couch. I text my mother in law to let her know what’s going on, in case we all wake up dead or something. Apparently my husband had initially thought about setting the man up with them, but they don’t speak any Spanish. However, I didn’t count on the man’s phone going off all night, very loudly. My daughter wakes up because he’s talking on the phone loudly in Spanish. She thinks to herself, “This is the world’s worst burglar. Maybe I should call the police.” But all of us except my 15 year old have pretty bad anxiety, and 13 year old is terrified of talking on the phone, so she decides not to call the police. Yay, anxiety! Instead she gets up and comes into our bed to tell us that there’s a man speaking Spanish in our living room. I guess it’s better than the night the man with dementia walked into our house yelling, “Help! Help!” Everything was fine. He had reached his family and my husband took him to meet them this morning while I took the kids to school. 17 5 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 (((Terabith and family))) You all are awesome. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaelAldrich Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 May the Omnipresent bless and keep you. In Judaism we have a idea/story that Elijah (Eliyahu) the prophet comes to earth to test out people and their sincerity in the commandments G-d gave us. Your family passed with flying colors! 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 Wow. That is a funny story and I bet he is grateful to have had a place to stay. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 That was so sweet of you and your husband. I wish we could all do things like that without worrying that we would be harmed. What a funny story that you get to tell for years. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 Yay! I would have said yes to the guest but probably would have stayed awake just in case! (Anxiety) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 The whole story is so nice of you!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amira Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 I love this story in every single way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 Yeah, this story is the best all the way around. Funny and heartwarming and all the things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
math teacher Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 Kudos to your dh and family. I have never heard of this bus situation. I wonder if they come through my neck of Texas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terabith Posted November 20, 2018 Author Share Posted November 20, 2018 27 minutes ago, Math teacher said: Kudos to your dh and family. I have never heard of this bus situation. I wonder if they come through my neck of Texas? I know a lot of them either start in or go through Dallas and San Antonio. I have a friend in San Antonio who makes sandwiches and is part of trying to provision folks on that end. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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