Entertaining Angels Unaware

One Thanksgiving a few years ago we had the most delightful guest at our
dinner table. I met her one day at Mummert's Carpet Shop. It used to be
Lynn's Grocery Store, in New Oxford, Pa. Greg Mummert, a neat young man who was
a fan of mine, opened his store there and asked me to come work for him.
Thought I might be able to help people make color choices etc. Sort of a
decorator.

One day the door opened and a tiny little old lady came bursting
in. She stormed around a few minutes and then she yelled "Where the H--- are
the potatoes?" After I picked myself off the floor from laughing, I
explained it was no longer a grocery store, and the only potatoes in here
were growing in Greg's ears. We got to talking, and I found out she was a
horse woman. She was a trainer and horse dealer when she was younger, (she
was 92 at the time). We talked horses for a while then she said she was
alone now. No children, husband or any relatives. The only people that keep
in touch with her are the Budweiser Horse crew. They come and get her any
time they are in the area. They call her about once a month she said.

I asked her what she was doing for Thanksgiving. "Nothing" she said. I asked
her if she would be my guest at our house. Her blue eyes twinkled and she
said she'd LOVE to come. I said my husband would come for her, but she
ruffled her feathers and said she could still DRIVE!!! I told her how to
get here and she left. She had on a wild looking old red coat with a huge
white fur collar and a purple checked scarf. She had on short black anklets
and for the life of me I couldn't help but think she was one of the most
beautiful women I had ever seen.

I never expected her to come, didn't even tell my kids about her. Imagine my suprise and delight when she pulled into the driveway in her rickety old car. She never even knocked on the door. She made a bee line out to the barn to see our horses first. How she loved them. That would have been Thanksgiving enough for her.
(Once, I brought old John Snyder from the Brethren Home out just so he could SMELL horses once more before he died!!!) I had shrimp cocktails and she ate two whole
servings herself. Thank God I had an extra made up. What a great time we
had. She was so entertaining. You know, I can't even remember her name, but
I can see her flashing eyes and that smile.

She told us she takes her mailbox in every night. That way, when the mailman comes, if it isn't out he will know something is wrong and get help. She was afraid of laying there and dying on the floor. Imagine living like that. So alone. She's gone now, but I will never forget the Thanksgiving we spent together. She gave me a
box of Budweiser Clydesdale playing cards for a hostess gift. Great memory.
Great lady. I always think of 'entertaining angels unawares' when I think
of her.