Sometimes Hope Shows Up in the Most Unlikely Places

An Unexpected Connection Between Two Strangers

I arrived at my appointment for the tour, and the leasing agent—a young, twenty-something woman—started showing me around. She was very sweet and attentive. As we talked she asked what I did for a living and I told her I was a speaker and a writer. She said “Oh, you’re a writer! What do you write?”

I told her I write books and she said “Gosh, books—I haven’t ever read any books. I mean, I read a couple in high school when I had to, but my friends have all told me that I have to read more. I’ve just never really been a reader.”

“In fact,” she continued, “The only two books I’ve ever read in my life, other than for school, are these two books called For Women Only and For Young Women Only.”

I literally stopped walking, stunned, in the middle of the parking lot. She kept walking, then turned around and said “What?”

I could hardly talk. “Those are my books. I wrote those.”

She said “What?!? I can’t believe it!” As we recovered from our amazement, she told me about the impact those books had had on her life.