A Valentine's Day to Remember

The following is a true story.

Last evening, at approximately 6:30 pm, a 90 year old woman walked down a lonely gravel road, four miles from the nearest town. It was dark and the wind chill factor was below zero. Suddenly, a car approached and the woman attempted to step off of the roadway into the relative safety of her yard. The yard was covered in a thick layer of ice and the frail woman slipped and fell just as the vehicle's lights illuminated her. She lay motionless, face down in the snow- unable to get back up. The female passenger of the vehicle got out and rushed to the woman's aid. At first the elderly widow was confused and refused help getting back to her feet. But the younger woman persisted and was able to help the woman stand. "Let's get you back inside your house. Its too cold out here for you."

"That's not my house," the confused woman replied.

After repeating the same conversation twice, the younger woman said, "Well, let's just see if anyone is home in that house who can help us." The good samaritan had seen the old lady pulling weeds in that yard on several occasions and was sure that it was indeed the woman's home.

The driver pulled the vehicle up and he and his wife helped the woman into the passenger seat. "We'll just drive up to that house to see if we can find your family, okay?"

The woman laughed hysterically. At this point it was obvious she had no idea what was happening. There was no telling how long she had been wondering around in the cold. Hypothermia may have begun to set in.

"What were you doing out here by yourself?" the concerned man yelled, sensing that the woman was nearly stone deaf.

"I'm going to so-and-so's to get a cup of tea."

The husband couldn't understand the name of the person she was going to visit. "Where is their house?"

"I don't know."

"My wife is going to see if anyone is at this house who can help us okay?"

"Okay," she said, laughing some more.

"Are you sure this isn't your house?"

"That's not my house."

The man was sure he had seen the old woman picking up trash around the yard there before, but could she be right? Was this someone else's house afterall? His wife tried knocking on and then opening each door she could find. But all the doors were locked. The young couple, who were on their way to town for a romantic Valentine's dinner, knew that their plans had changed dramatically. Not knowing who the woman's family were and not having any way to get into her home, they had no way to call anyone to help her. They decided to drive her into town to the local police station for assistance.

When they arrived in the small village, the immediately noticed the lights were turned off at the police station. A quick pull at the door confirmed that it was locked and that they would find no help there. The husband walked into a nearby tavern and asked the owner if he knew the old woman, whose name was Irma Nichols (she was able to remember her name), since he knew everybody else in town. He did not know her, but gave the man a phone number of a local volunteer firefighter. No one answered the phone. Remembering that the small town had just built a new ambulance station recently, he drove the woman, his wife, and his patient young son across town.

A pair of paramedics answered the door when the man knocked. "Finally," he thought to himself. He explained the situation to the men and one of them stepped out to the vehicle and assessed the old woman. A moment later he came back to the station and told the driver, 'Well, she seems coherent and refuses to go to the hospital, so we can't do anything for her."

"We don't know who her family is and we have no way to get her into her home. What are we supposed to do with her?" the bewildered driver asked. "And I don't know how coherent she is. She denied that she lived in her own house. She doesn't even realize where she is."

While in the vehicle, the old woman repeated the same thing over and over again: "I hate to be a bother. Its costing you money fussin' over me. I hate botherin' people. You got family. You don't have time for no old fool." She repeated this mantra at least three or four dozen times. "I ought to know better. Checkin' on those cows." She did have cows. The problem was that they were no where near her house. Had she not slipped in view of the vehicle's headlights, she would have ventured into a hilly pasture in pitch darkness, with no way to get back up the hill to her home. Within minutes, she would have surely frozen to death in the bone chilling weather.

The paramedics asked her more specific questions to asses her mental health. She denied having a phone. She said she could walk home. When the young woman told Irma that she was in town and not on her road, the old woman said, "I'll just stay here then."

"But you're in our van, Irma. We need to get you home."

"I don't want to bother anybody. I hate it that I caused you so much trouble."

"Its no trouble, really. We just want to get you home. Do you have any body to look after you?" the man asked.

"I don't know."

"Do you have any children?"

Her answers ranged from "no" to "yes, one" to "two". She finally said "a girl" but couldn't remember her name. She laughed pretty loud after she said that.

The paramedic finally decided to call 9-1-1 to get the fire department and sheriff involved, so they could get her into her house and look for phone numbers of loved ones. With the emergency folks in tow, the young family drove the elderly woman back to her home in the country. "I think that's my barn." Her brain was warming back up. "That's not my house, though."

"I think it just looks different at night, Irma," the man replied. Those nice boys with the fire department are going to see if they can open a door so we can get you inside."

"Who?" She had no idea what was happening. Finally, the crew and the young woman made their way into the house. Post-it notes were everywhere. Reminders not to give out personal information on the phone, emergency contact info, and countless messages from someone named Judy. The young woman deduced that Judy must be the daughter and she called the number. A man answered and said Judy had just left to go check on her mother a minute ago. She should be arriving any second because she only lives about a half-mile down the road.

Just then, a car pulled into the driveway. Seeing the rescue vehicles, the woman began to scream, "Mom!" "Oh, God, no!"

The young husband jumped out of his vehicle and yelled "Ma'am! Its okay! I have her in my van. She's okay." He then gave a condensed version of the story to the daughter as they all helped the old woman to the house.

After she was safe and sound in her own home, I asked her, "Do you remember my wife Bethany? She's the one who helped you out of the snow when you fell?"

"No," she said as she laughed a big, beautiful belly laugh.

"You take care, okay Irma?"

"Okay."

Bethany and I walked back to the van and sat for a moment while the fire department moved their vehicle out of our way. A firefighter approached us and said, "Thanks for calling us. We'll have the deputy talk to the daughter and try to convince her that her mother can't be left alone anymore. She would have surely died if you hadn't found her."

In talking to the daughter, Bethany found out that Irma had Alzheimer's. We had been concerned as we drove by her house last summer when we saw her pulling weeds in 100 degree heat, with no one else around to watch over her. Now, we realize we were right to worry. Judy lives close by, but doesn't spend every moment at her mother's side, and it is obvious that someone will need to from now on.

Had we not been running late (as usual) for our Valentine's date, we would not have been there to help Irma get back home. Locked out of her house, wandering around in the freezing night, Irma would have died from hypothermia in no time at all. Our hour and a half odyssey to get Irma home was the most memorable Valentine's date we'll ever have. Alex was trying his best to comfort our elderly neighbor, and should be given a medal for his patience. Our reward- we decided to go ahead to town and have our dinner, after dropping Alex off at his grandma's house, even if it was a little late. It turns out that running late isn't such a bad thing afterall. It may have just saved a life.

The End.