Paying It Forward

I was working today in transportation instead of my regular job. We have a van we use to transport residents to doctor’s appointments, pick up new residents, etc. The regular person who does that needed the day off, and I substituted for her today.
It was a busy day. I made a total of ten pickups and deliveries today, most of which were fine-tuned in timing so I could just finish one and get to the next. Some were taking people to the doctor or to dialysis. There were some, though, that were pickups of new residents that had been dismissed from the hospital and needed further rehabilitation and care.
I was at one of the urban hospitals picking up an older gentleman. He had weakness on one side due to a CVA (stroke), and he had some other issues as well. Because of his weakness, he couldn’t sit in the wheelchair very well, nor could he maneuver into or out of his chair on his own. We had to use the lift to get him into the wheelchair so he could come to our place for rehab.
The man seemed at times to be somewhat confused as well. The combination of apparent confusion, listing to one side, and inability to sit in the chair straight made a prime opportunity for him to just tumble forward out of the chair. To help cope with that, he would tend to grab anything he could with his good hand and not let go willingly.
I got him into the elevator of the hospital and was on my way down when the car stopped to pick up another passenger. We then continued down to the first floor. By that time the resident had grabbed the handrail in the elevator car and was listing rather precariously to one side. The lady who was riding with us held the door open for us, and I worked with the man to get him to loosen his grip on the handrail as well as keep him sort of upright in the chair.
As I exited the car, the woman put her hand on my shoulder and said, “God bless you.”
I’m not sure what she was thinking, but I suspect she may have been thinking that I was taking home my dad to take care of him, or some such. She didn’t have any way of knowing, I think, that I would have him in my care for only a few more minutes.
However, I certainly appreciated her comment and compassion for me. It gave me a lift that lasted the rest of the day. I hope that sometime soon, in some situation, someone pays forward to her the gift she gave me today.