No Parking After 7am, But Blessings are 24/7!

by Donna M. Baxter (AKA Soulsis)

Saturday morning didn’t start out to well for me. I was in desperate need of help and didn’t know who to turn to. Eventually, after asking around, my girl Loryvonne was able to assist me at my time of need. Loryvonne being able to help me at that time was a blessing in my life. Later that day I headed downtown to check out the Philadelphia dance company - Philadanco. I went solo as I couldn’t get anyone to attend with me because everyone was tied up at the time – which was unusual. However, I was sort of ok with it because I wanted to go by myself and being an only child, I am comfortable enjoying my own company.

I eventually found a place to park on the street after riding by all the full parking lots and circling the block caught in the traffic of the many theater and night club goers. The meters all were tagged with “No Parking after 7am” signs by the city of Pittsburgh. Most of the meters were taken already, but I was lucky, or at least thought so, to find one around the corner from the Byham. Everyone on the streets were discussing that these are probably for the Steeler’s game tomorrow – since they had no dates on them, all you really could go by was the time. Since it was almost 8pm, no parking after 7am seemed like it would logically be for the next morning. You would think?

Well that theory was incorrect, as many found out to find the streets bare and no cars or SUVs in spots where there once were. I turned the corner and notice my street I had parked on was bare as well. I cringed at the thought of my SUV being towed on a day that already started out bad. I thought – What’s Next? I then noticed a group of women and young ladies standing by a meter where there was a black SUV parked. Noticing it was mine, I was relieved, but something didn’t seem right. The ladies addressed me before I got in my SUV and said “Miss, you have a ticket on your windshield” – that was the last thing I needed. One of them then said, “At least you didn’t get towed”. That’s when I sat in my car in disbelief that I didn’t get towed, but of course at the same time happy that I didn’t. I looked out at the ladies on the sidewalk and almost in a WWJD (what would Jesus do) moment, I asked the ladies if I could give them a ride to the tow pound. We packed my little SUV with the ladies and children and headed to the pound. The pound was closed and I just couldn’t leave them there for their rides to come get them, so I asked them again, could I offer you ladies a ride home? Now you know I was praying they didn’t live like in Mt Oliver or Penn Hills or something. Since I live near East Liberty I was praying they were close by. Would you believe ALL of them lived near East Liberty and I only have to take them to one location? And none of them knew each other! Now they tell me how I was such a blessing to them this night -- Just when earlier that day I was in desperate need of someone to be a blessing to me!

We all bonded in the car and exchange contact info. The one lady was from out of town and talked about how The Soul Pitt was a lifeline for her when she first moved here from California.

Well after I left them, I went in the convenience store across from Peabody. On my way out the door an older brother asked me for .95 cents – I politely said no and walked to my SUV. Without a second thought, and not really caring what he wanted .95 cents for, I grabbed more than what he asked for from my purse and walked by over to him and put it into his hand and told him, “Take this, because I can remember when I didn’t have anything. And someone blessed me today, so I am passing a blessing on it to you." He was shocked, smiled and said, “Lady you are an angel.”

I’ll never forget this day. It started out seemingly bad, but ended up being a day full of blessings. The feeling of helping people in their time of need far outweighed the feeling of getting a ticket. I’ll fight it in traffic court, and maybe I’ll be blessed enough to have it reduced. All I do know is that, if you find yourself blessed in someway by someone or something, you should pass the blessings on!