Something strange happened to me in a coffee shop today. If you’re Canadian you may already have guessed that the setting for this story is a Tim Horton’s café ‘-)
A friend, who’s a former colleague, and I were having bagels and coffee for brunch. We’d picked a table by the windows of the café, so we could enjoy some almost-winter sunshine.
Our conversation was fairly animated, ranging from religion to politics to holiday entertaining. We were chatting about the types of things that can go wrong at large gatherings, laughing at each other experiences. My friend was telling me one of her “horrid holiday” event stories when we were interrupted.
A tall man, wearing outdoor work clothes and holding a tray of food and coffee, had stopped beside our table. Beside me, to my right. There was another man, who seemed to be one of his co-workers, right behind him; they were walking past our table to get to an unoccupied table at the other end of the café. The second of them had stopped moving because the first man was now standing still.
As I turned towards this stranger, he crouched down to speak to me. He asked me whether he could pray for my healing. At this point I should probably mention a few things.
First off, I wasn’t scared or feeling threatened in any way. We were in a crowded coffee shop, at lunchtime, and he kept a respectful distance as he spoke to me.
Second, I was wearing an odd-looking dynamic splint on my right hand and arm although I was resting this hand on my lap, under the table. I was trying to make my splint as unobtrusive as possible, less visible to others in the café.
This apparatus is meant to prevent some of the long-term complications of CRPS, but it’s often painful to wear. The disease isn’t called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) for nothing, after all! It causes several types of pain, including excruciating neuropathic or nerve pain.
The final thing I want to mention is that this isn’t the first time that something like this has happened to me.
So, getting back to that stranger in the coffee shop today. After he asked to pray for my healing, he asked whether he could touch my CRPS-affected hand for that purpose. I replied no, because it’s painful to the lightest touch. He then asked if I’d let him touch my left hand, and I said yes.
He then balanced his tray of food on his knees with his left hand, freeing his right hand. To avoid having him lean across me, to reach my left hand, I turned a bit towards him and reached my left hand towards his right hand.
My friend, sitting across the small table from me, was too stunned to say a word throughout this entire exchange! When this stranger had my left fingertips in the tip of his right hand, he said a few words in a language that seemed to be Russian. (I took some Russian language courses in college.)
This stranger then told me that he’d prayed for my hand to heal, for me to be blessed. I was wearing Christmas earrings – as I have been since December 15th! – so I wasn’t surprised that he also wished me a Happy Christmas. At this point he stood back up, to his full height, with his lunch tray in both hands. I assumed that he was done.
I thanked him, and wished him a Merry Christmas and much happiness in the New Year. The stranger, and the man I assumed to be his co-worker, then made their way to another area of the coffee shop.
Just another strange day, in the strange world of chronic pain and rare disease. My friend, it turns out, was horrified that I’d even spoken with this stranger – let alone having let him touch my hand. I explained to her that I didn’t see any harm in this, and that it was something that seemed to be important to him. That I’d agreed to his request out of kindness, to him.
Not in any hope that it would help heal my rare disease, which is a good thing because – of course – nothing changed after this exchange!
Here’s a question for you; if it had been you, in the same situation at a popular coffee shop, how would you have reacted? Feel free to message me over on Instagram or Twitter, because I’ve had to disable the comments feature on the blog due to a high volume of explicit spam.
Happy holidays, whichever ones you celebrate, and all the best for the New Year! Thanks so much, as always, for stopping by ‘-)