On March 3rd, 2012 Anne and I were walking among the magnificent green pine trees and bright blue ocean vistas of Pebble Beach, California as we wandered along a pathway by some red tiled old buildings above a park across the street from the famed Pebble Beach Lodge.
There we encountered an 80 year old woman who appeared to have the weight of the world on her tired slumping shoulders. As we cordially greeted her, a stranger just seconds earlier, she began to unload a bit of the burden she was carrying.
"My only son," she said in a voice that rang in anguish, "is suffering from Ankylosing Spondylitis." * She said that morning for the first time in his life, he was in such pain he couldn't get out of bed, even with her pleading with him to do so.
"Please pray for my son," she asked while staring into our eyes. "We will," I replied. "And we will pray for his mother as well." With that, she quietly smiled, perhaps not feeling as alone in the world as she had caring people to speak with, and then we parted company with her.
As we watched her walk off into the distance, I stopped and twice said a little prayer for her and her son, as she had requested. This meeting with her took place five months ago, yet I recall it almost as if it happened yesterday. For a few moments on that day, we were more than strangers and I hope she and her son are doing better.
Dick
*To learn more about Ankylosing Spondylitis, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001457/
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