Out Of The Blue Blessings

By Mary Sefzik –

I was a college student thrilled to have landed a part-time job as a braille textbook proofreader at Visual Aide Volunteers in Garland, Texas. I couldn’t believe I was actually getting paid to do something I enjoyed—reading.

My fingers skimmed across the page. “They forgot the period again,” I said.

“Good catch,” my boss complimented. A long-forgotten name flashed through my mind—Eileen, my first braille teacher.

Wouldn’t she be proud if she could see me now. I wanted to find my soft-spoken silver-haired teacher and thank her for giving me the tools I needed to excel at my first job.

I e-mailed another teacher to see if he knew anything about Eileen. He told me he had recently seen her at a local restaurant. He included a phone number and urged me to contact her.

My heart raced, and my hand shook as I dialed the number. What am I doing? I wondered. This lady must be in her nineties, and I haven’t talked to her in years. Will she even remember me?

“What do I have to lose?” I argued with myself. The worst thing that can happen is I dial a wrong number or get hung up on. I’ll never know unless I try.

“Hello?” a soft voice answered after the third ring.

“Hello, my name is Mary Sefzik, and I am trying to reach Eileen Burke.”

“This is Eileen. Who are you, and where are you calling from?”

I tried again. “My name is Mary Ann Sefzik. I was one of your pre-school students at Dallas Services for Visually Impaired Children.”

“Oh, honey, I retired from there in 1991—many years ago.”

“I graduated from Dallas Services in 1989 when I was six years old,” I said, hoping to fill in her mental blanks.

“Oh my, Mary Ann. I can’t believe this. How are you? Where are you? What are you doing now?”

I told her about attending college, learning Braille music, and working as a proofreader—all things her teaching had helped bring about.

“I plan to graduate from college soon and wonder what God has in store for me. I wish I could see the future,” I said.

“God has something out there for you,” Eileen assured me, “and it will come one day, out of the blue, when you least expect it.”

Eileen attended my graduation party several months later and I was thankful to find she was exactly the way I remembered her. As she held my hand, I remembered those same gentle hands teaching me how to dial a telephone. I loved to hear her lilting northeastern accent. She could always make me laugh.

“I can’t believe you’re really here,” I said as we clung together in a tight embrace.

“You little rascal,” she said in her sweet, familiar way. “Do you remember the first sentence you wrote for me?”

Once again I was a shy six-year-old basking in the praise of a teacher I adored. “I can go,” I answered.

“You’re right. You said ‘I can go,’ and you went!”

I was amazed at how God chose to use a boss’s compliment and a simple phone call to bring about this special reunion. This experience reminded me that God’s blessings often come out of the blue, when we least expect them.