Maxine

On  most Wednesday nights, you will find me under the bridge of the 640 overpass in Knoxville.  By the end of December, it is usually bitter cold.  Not last night!  It felt like spring!  It had gotten up to 60 degrees yesterday and it didn’t feel much cooler than that last night.

For the past month our cook at Lost Sheep Ministry has been sick, so we have been passing out sack lunches on Wednesday, along with blankets, toiletries and last night, warm hats, scarves and gloves. 

I was passing out the sack lunches last night, with a new volunteer, Kim.  The crowd wasn’t as large, so some people got 2 and even 3 lunches.  For some reason, we got more thank you's than usual.  As one older lady walked through, she took her lunch from Kim, walked past her, looked straight at me and gave me the best compliment I believe I have ever had in my life.

She said, “thank you Miss Maxine.”  If it had been 16 degrees (and it has been before) instead of 60 I would have immediately warmed up. 

In that moment, I thought two things.  First of all…Maxine has not been forgotten.  Second….if someone had said, “thank you Mother Teresa” I could not have felt more complimented.

I hope that Maxine heard that interchange “down under the bridge” as she always used to say, and that she somehow knows that people still love and remember the woman who started this ministry almost 30 years ago.  I am proud to have been mistaken for her!

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