A Forgiveness Lesson, a Chance Meeting, and a Red Light
I was already running late to pick up my niece from daycare when the traffic light changed to red for the third time. Stuck two cars behind the front of the line, I tapped the steering wheel in frustration, trying not to lose my cool.
Then I realized why there had been a delay.
An old woman was moving slowly through the crosswalk on a cane. Alongside her, a policeman held up his hand to halt oncoming traffic. She held a tote bag to her chest as if it were a hundred pounds, and she wore a big brown coat.
She took frequent breaks, carefully navigating each step. She was never hurried by the officer. She stopped in the middle, and he smiled, reassuring her.
Even though it was only a brief moment, it made me feel something.
And then, as she got to the curb, she looked directly at my car and waved her hand slightly.
I didn’t return the wave. I was unable to. My chest constricted.
That face was familiar to me.
I hadn’t seen her in a courtroom for twelve years. “Tell your brother I forgive him,” she had said after the sentencing.
Maribel was her name.
Mateo, my brother, had struck her with his vehicle.
The night was wet. Not quite sober, he was nineteen and driving home from a party when he didn’t notice her crossing until she was on the hood. She ultimately suffered a collapsed lung and two broken legs. Mateo never fully got over his drinking or his guilt.
Maribel had the option to sue. She didn’t.
She might have detested him. She didn’t.
Rather, she requested leniency from the judge as she entered the courtroom using a walker and a limp. “Forgiveness is the only way I can get better,” she stated.
My brother cried like he had never done before that day.
Life went on after the sentencing. Mateo relocated to a different state. Like a chapter we couldn’t bear to read again, Maribel vanished from our lives.
So far.
With my heart racing, I parked at a nearby gas station and watched her shuffle down the sidewalk in my rearview mirror, shaken.
I’m not sure what happened to me, but I yelled, “Maribel?” as I rolled down the window.
She paused. slowly turned. As I recalled from the courtroom, her eyes were gentle.
“Yes?”
My hands were shaking when I got out of the car. “I am the sister of Sol. Mateo.”
After examining me for a while, she gave me a soft smile. “You were present. clutching his jacket.
“I also consider him. both of you. You kind of stayed with me even though I never had children.
I was at a loss for words. I volunteered to take her on a walk to a local pharmacy. She agreed.
She talked about her knees, her late husband who died two years ago, and her cat as we strolled. She claimed to be doing well despite living alone.
She stopped when we got to the pharmacy and said, “You know… Mateo didn’t hear this section. I was by myself in the hospital after the accident. However, I did have the letter he wrote.
I gave a nod. He cried through three drafts, and I had helped him write it.
She gripped her tote and said, “Well, for weeks, I read that letter every night.” I felt seen because of it. As if I were still important.
I broke right there on the sidewalk. I sat down, overcome—not with sadness, but with the woman’s unwavering grace in transforming her suffering into serenity.
“You tell him I’m still proud of him,” she said, holding my hand as we said our goodbyes.
I promised to.
I picked up my niece late. When I entered, my sister arched an eyebrow, so I had to clarify. I may have sounded crazy, but in the best way imaginable.
I gave Mateo a call that evening.
He fell silent when I told him who I had seen.
He muttered, “She remembered me?”
I remarked, “She remembers both of us.” I then filled him in on everything.
For the first time in years, I heard him cry. This time, though, it wasn’t out of guilt. Something lighter. Something restorative.