Nicky was camped by the side of the road in a minivan. A happy, sweet and generous woman in her late 70s with a wheelchair.
I apologized to Nicky for invading her space and explained that I had walked up to the road to direct the Roadside Assistance truck to my friends rig that was having trouble.
We chatted and laughed about random nomad stuff. We are both in a minivan so there was an instant camaraderie. She was a cool lady.
While there is a lot of free camping here in Quartsite,AZ, folks don't usually camp right near the paved road. Nicky explained that she had been camping much further in with a Caravan of women (a group of people who gather to camp together) but it was time for the caravan to move to the next location 90 miles away. She could not join them because her social security check would not arrive for another two weeks. She could not afford the gas.
She moved closer to the paved road because she felt safer. In case of an emergency she could only walk very short distances and her wheelchair didn't work well in the rocky campsites.
She did not complain even though she had no family to fall back on, no money to speak of and was disabled. Instead we laughed about the hardships that cross our paths out here.
As many good folks on the road, she offered me her spare windshield visor, a cup of coffee and great conversation. Nicky was a survivor. Living day to day and comfortable with the fact that she will be found in her car when her last day comes.
The Repair truck arrived and I excused myself to direct it to my friends rig.
On my way out to meet my friend at the garage I stopped to see Nicky. I offered her some individually wrapped Hostess coffee cakes to go with her coffee. There were a couple of twenty dollar bills folded up between them.
"What is this?" she held out the cash. I explained how my mom tells me to do stuff from heaven. "We all deserve a gift now and then" I said.
She tried to turn it down but as I left I saw her staring at it like was a million dollars.
Thanks to you, my supporters, Nicky was gifted cash for a tank of gas (or whatever she wanted). Because of you, she had a choice.
Bad stuff happens but good stuff is better!