Grace, Gracious, Grateful

Life often gives us the opportunity to feel grace. Whether we chose to to be gracious toward someone or something, or grateful for someone or something is up to us. This week, although only Wednesday, has shown me many things to be grateful for and also allowed me to be gracious toward another human being in a way I would never have imagined.
My thanks of the week is that after many months (almost a year!) my car is finally running properly and I happened to do a job for a auto shop so I was able to trade the repair for my man (girl) hours; my best friends finally got their sewer system fixed after three weeks of frustration (and pooping at my place); and I reconnected with a dear friend that I had been in conflict with. That's a lot to be thankful for....
and....even with all these things being wonderful (and it's only Wednesday), the best thing this week was when I was given the opportunity to reach out to another human being with compassion and love.
I had the good fate of meeting a man who shared with me his hardships and joys of being paralyzed from the waist down. The sole breadwinner for a family of five, this man trusted, a total stranger (me), with a story of grace shown to him from an unofficial group of giving people. This man told me he was given the gift of a van fitted for him, with electric wheelchair ramp and hand controls. He told me about his previous van that had metal ramps that would often fail, caving in, causing him to go crashing to the ground. He spoke freely of the stresses of making sure he was 'ok' to take care of his family. He spoke of how grateful he was for his new van, and then he started to cry.
His head tilted downward and his voice drown out with quiet sobs. I watched his body slowly shake. I stood about 8 feet away from him, the counter that I was standing behind being the only thing in the path between us. I felt sad and hopeless and then I said aloud, "I'm a hugger!" I charged out from behind the counter toward the man and bent over to hug him. I held that man hard as he cried for a few minutes. With tearful eyes and an additional squeeze I released my grip and looked at him with a smile. He smiled too.
I am so grateful I am the kind of person who will hug a person in need. When I told my husband how much that meant to me, how much I was happy that life gave me that opportunity, he said,
'What was his name?' I just shrugged and said, 'I don't know'.
And honestly, I didn't need to because he reminded me of something very important: In all I do, I want to, and need to, include all persons, able bodied and challenged. We are after all, here on this earth to help each other aren't we?!