Antioch, California:

This morning I walked to my bus stop and it was still dark and very cold. Once there I noticed someone sitting on the bench. Being it was dark I nervously checked out the occupant and seeing that she appeared harmless I smiled and said, "Good Morning!" I then began looking into my purse for the fare. The woman rose and walked towards me and said, "I was inspired to give this to you.I wanted to give this to your for Christmas, so sorry it's late." she then handed me a Christmas bag that was quite heavy. I was so surprised since I had never seen this person before and yet she was smiling at me with this gift. I remember saying, "oh my goodness that so nice of you...Thank you!" She then walked away. I looked into the bag and there was a book called, "Christmas Jars" and a painted mason jar with a ribbon attached and the words "Christmas Jar" were painted on it. I opened the jar and I saw several dollar bills and the rest of the jar was almost filled to the top with coins! I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Then I recalled how the woman was so apologetic about it being late. I wasn't at that bus stop last week because I had become very ill with a staph infection. I had taken two days off to recover and returned to school eventhougth I knew I wasn't completely well; however, I badly needed my paycheck. Two months before I had been hospitalized for several days and still owed a sizeable copay bill and had promised the hospital to pay what I could. All week I thought...How am I going to make the promised payment? The unexpected ER visit from the infection cost $150.00 and I was going to have a smaller paycheck, too... That woman who bravely waited for me in the dark cold morning with her,"Christmas Jar" was an answer to my prayers. She was truly my "Christmas Angel,"