Guy standing outside with a sign.

"NEED GAS TO GET HOME. THREE KIDS. PLEASE HELP US."

I've seen this man and his wife for 2 days. My spirit got heavy. Tears in my eyes. My mom and I looked at each other. She nodded.

I pulled over.

I asked him what happened and he pointed to the RV. His wife who looked like me got out. Three beautiful babies popped out, too. They yelled, "hiiiii we're on vacation!"

Their mother smiled and then wiped a tear. I knew she'd told them that for comfort.

The dad hung his head.

He'd come out to NJ from SC to help his father run his buffet 4 months ago. COVID hit. Shut them down. His wife is in undocumented status. They feared asking for help in fear of getting her and the kids jeopardized.

He showed me a crumbled piece of paper.

Someone called ICE on his family while in NJ. There was also a bill for a repaired transmission for the 20 year old RV that was in awful shape.

I looked up & he said shaking, "we just need a break. you know. it's a lot.

In that moment, I couldn't think. I just said, "let's go"

He followed us to a gas station. I told them to let the kids go in the store and get what they want. They looked at me in shock. We filled their gas tank.

Could I afford it?

HELL NO. But I HAD it. They didn't. They were running. Trying to survive. All they had was love & hope..

The beautiful babies thanked me in Creole and English. In joyland with giant slushies and lottery tickets (they never had them so I got them ) and their mother said a prayer over me.

I noticed her baby boy who couldn't speak. I picked him up. He held my face and kissed me..

I felt blessed. In that moment, their gratitude gave me more joy than I've felt in months.

When you feel something is real, go there.
When you start to lose hope, remember love.
When you think everything is falling apart, it's not.

Everything is in place & time for a reason.