Christmas was approaching, but I lost my job. My paycheck was survival. I did everything I could to give my daughter, Kristil, a good life, but there were some things a single mom's love couldn't fix. Monday morning, I dropped Kristil at school and set off on my moneymaking pursuits. Looking for where to pawn stuff, I headed to a pawnshop with a garnet ring set in 14-karat gold that my mother had given me a decade earlier. "Best I can do is $70," the owner said "The stones are worthless. " I was defeated, feeling as if the world was closing in on me.
Back at home, I glanced out the window. It had been snowing all morning. I noticed a petite woman struggling to open her car door against the wind. As she got out, I realized it was my old professor, Sister Esther Heffernan. I hadn't seen her since we met for lunch three months ago. I'd first met Sister Esther 10 years earlier when I was her student at Edgewood College. Kristil was 2 at the time, and I sometimes took her to class. Sister Esther was understanding and would bring coloring books to occupy Kristil. After I graduated, Sister Esther kept in touch, meeting me for lunch every few months. I had grown to love her like family.
I rushed to the front of my building. Just being in Sister Esther's presence gave me hope that things would be all right. She handed me a Christmas card. When I opened her card, I gasped in shock. There was money inside. Tears of gratitude puddled in my eyes. Sister Esther had given me $1,000.
On Christmas morning, Kristil and I gathered around our tree, and I joyfully watched as she opened her Christmas gifts. I silently thanked Sister Esther in my heart.
It has been 14 years since that Christmas, but I've never forgotten what Sister Esther did for us. That year Santa's suit went from signature red to true blue. In 2020, at age 91, Sister Esther died, but the love she gave during her life lives on in the hearts of many. I am lucky to be one of them.
