Touched By A Stranger

She is a kind hearted soul, deeply entrenched in the vouyerism of our cyber world. Elisa spent her days much like any other. She wakes with coffee, her trusted phone, and her FaceBook app. She opens and begins to scroll. Hours pass as she love reacts to random photo posts, leaves an encouraging message for a stranger going through a tough time, leaves a snippet of what her day will be like. Never truly knowing the impact of her actions, like so many of us.

Today would not be like any other day for her, however. She proceeded with her usual routine; shower, checking emails, fulfilling work orders, running errands.

It was 3pm on this cold rainy Wednesday when she received an unexpected call. The voice on the other end explaining that someone she knew in her Social Media network had recently passed away. A stranger to her in many ways, Elisa paused to recall the name, Joy Anne Herbert.

Joy Anne Herbert lived in Cincinnati with her dog, a pekingese fluff ball named Maggie. She rarely posted to Facebook, using it only to stay in touch with family and friends. She did, however, interact on posts mostly leaving heartfelt messages and love reacts where she could.

You could tell her age not only by her photos, by the unfamiliarity and hesitation in her social media conversations; or lack there of. It is a world unfamiliar to most her age. Never using it for political opinions or a show of political support but rather as a window to a world outside of her own. A source of interaction amidst the lonely confinment of aging.

"Oh My," Elisa exclaimed. "How did it happen?"

The caller explained that Joy Anne had passed of natural causes.

"I apologize, but I'm so very confused as to why you contacted me. I mean no disrespect, of course." she stated with hesitation.

"We contacted you because Joy had kept a daily journal in her little black book for decades. It was something she loved to do. She seemed to be a fan of your caring demeanor and interactions over Social Media and she had made several notations of her interactions with you. Specifically, she had notated the day that you inboxed her after her husband's passing a few years back. She was truly touched by your interactions and willingness to lend yourself to her grief at that time," the caller explained.

"I... I had no idea. My condolences to her family and friends," she replied awkwardly.

"The main reason for this call is to notify you that Mrs. Herbert had added you to her will. She wanted you to have her savings of 20,000$. She mentioned that this is a small gesture for all that you have helped her and others through in their time of struggle and need. She also left for you a little black book of your own. She hopes that you will utilize it to write down the names of everyone who makes a difference in your life, as you have made in hers."

Holding back emotion, Elisa tries to find the words to say, "I am truly taken aback. I don't know what to say."

"What we need from you at this time is to make contact with our financial office to begin paperwork and set up your contact address so that the check and the book can be sent directly to you. Is that ok?"

"Yes, yes I can do that."

Two weeks pass and the book arrives at Elisa's home. She opens the package. The contents, a little black notebook. In it, on the very first page, there is an inscription that reads, "May your heart always be open to giving, May the world be open to receiving it. Bless You, Joy Anne."

On the first blank page Elisa writes down her first name, Joy Anne Herbert.