A Town with One Traffic Light
An ice storm stopped my travel through north Central Texas and gave me an opportunity to visit with a stranger.
As my mother’s health began to decline, the number of driving trips from Colorado Springs, Colorado to Nacogdoches, Texas increased. At age 84 her enlarged heart capacity was at 15%. She lived alone in her apartment; it was becoming apparent other living arrangements needed to be made.
For one of my trips, I helped Mom reserve an apartment in the newly being-built first assisted living complex in Nacogdoches. And, we hired her accountant to also do bookkeeping for monthly bills, writing checks, etc. Through her personal network of friends, I found a caregiver, Gwen, to stay with Mom for three hours each weekday. On Fridays Gwen prepared all of Mom’s meals for the weekend. I communicated with the same network of friends and church members that Mom no longer was driving her car. It was a blessing when her friends helped with her transportation needs!
In returning home for the trip back to Colorado Springs, rain turned into ice and the road conditions were treacherous as I neared Dallas. I stayed overnight in Wichita Falls and in the morning faced worse icy conditions. Highway 287 was navigable in only the right lane and I saw many jack-knifed semi-trucks that had skidded off the road the night before. A truck in front of me was only traveling at 20 M.P.H. Suddenly, the truck spun out of control and off the road to my right! Though the truck missed hitting my car, my nerves were shot with only 50 miles of driving. I decided to get off the highway at the next exit.
The exit was for the town of Electra, Texas. I drove into the small town looking for a restaurant to eat breakfast and let my nerves settle. There was one restaurant and as I turned into their parking lot, my car slid into a parking place next to the building. After ordering a hearty meal and reading the local newspapers, I spoke with the waitress about her town. I said, “I may be here for two days or two hours. Since this is an unplanned visit, who is a minister in Electra that would know of things that need to be done?” The waitress immediately thought of one particular minister and I asked her to call him. She called using the restaurant phone. After explaining to the minister my idea of impromptu serving, she passed the phone to me. The reverend and I did some small talk about how I arrived in Electra. Then, I asked the minister, “Do you have anything that needs to be done?” He told me of the only nursing home in town and asked me to visit a particular lady resident there. The reverend said, “The lady has lived here her whole life and few people visit her. Would you go by and talk to her?” I answered, “Yes.” His directions to the nursing home were to go one block from the restaurant to the only traffic light in town. From there, the nursing home was in the next block on the right. He gave me the lady’s name and we ended our conversation. I was pleased to have something to do, other than waiting around for the ice to melt off the roads.
It was easy finding the nursing home; the reverend’s directions were thorough and Electra’s population was about 2,500. I parked my car in front of the nursing home, a 1950s-built brick one-story building. Icicles were hanging off the roof eaves and the sky was overcast with the sun hidden behind gray clouds. Then, I walked in and found the front desk and asked to see the lady resident. The receptionist was a bit surprised at who I wanted to visit, and I explained that I was sent by the local minister. Next I was asked to go into the Community Room and a nurse would bring the lady to see me there.
When my unbeknownst hostess came into the Community Room, she sat down across from me at a large table. I introduced myself, told her why I was there and gave her the reverend’s name. Seeing some board games in the room, I asked if the game, Connect 4, was available to play. The nursing home did not have the game and I said for my next visit I’d bring the game as a gift to her. We talked for about an hour; my new friend had dementia or Alzheimer’s and had difficulty remembering who she was and why she was at the nursing home.
In an instant, I looked outside through the blinds of one of the windows in our meeting room. The sun was shining and was melting the icicles hanging off the roof! My first thought was, “Maybe I can now drive home!?” After some niceties and goodbyes to her, I left the nursing home promising to return with the Connect 4 gift. As I passed the one traffic light, the street was not slick anymore and I hastened onto Highway 287. For the next 100 miles, the left lane was unnavigable. So, I drove only in the right lane with its dug-out tracks in the ice and each mile got easier going northwest. I stayed overnight in Amarillo and arrived home the next day.
Two weeks later, I made another trip to Nacogdoches to see my mother. For the drive down, I stopped in Electra to visit my new friend. I gave her the Connect 4 game and we talked a bit. She didn’t remember me or anything about our first visit, so I repeated some of the same conversation as before. And, we played a few games of the Connect 4, too.
In reading Matthew 25:35-40 and Luke 6:38, I believe my visits to Electra, Texas helped me as well as serving the people I met there.
Questions to Ponder? 1. When you have delays, distractions and roadblocks to your agenda, do you look at them as opportunities to do something meaningful? 2. Ever heard of the phrase, “When there’s a delay, it’s an opportunity to pray”? 3. Can you find Electra, Texas on the map or Google it? When you drive through or visit small towns, do you see anything different in them from your experiences in bustling large cities? Ever been to a “one-traffic-light” town? 4. Do you recognize signs of dementia or Alzheimer’s diseases in people you know and strangers? 5. Know about the game, Connect 4? When a friend of mine was three years old, he beat me several times in a row when we played Connect 4. After each win, Andrew said, Gotcha!” 6. When your parents’, family members’ or friends’ physical or mental health begins to decline, how do you broach the subject and/or step in to help?
A Town with One Traffic Light is written by Charles H. Castle. The author writes non-fiction short stories and his book, Where are the Instructions?, is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, other outlets and www.CharlesCastle.com. You can reach Castle in Colorado Springs, CO at [email protected].