Going out of my comfort zone...

My apologies if this get to be a little long...I want to be sure write down everything so I have it for my journal.

I went through my entire blog and realized that I never wrote about an experience I had a work shortly after I became overnight CSM (Customer Service Manager). I think it was back in May, my boss, Greg, called me to the back of the store (Which is where the bathrooms are) and pointed to a girl who appeared to be asleep on one of the benches just out side the bathrooms. He asked me to wake her and find out what is going on and let her know that she is not allowed to sleep here and she needs to leave. I went over to her and gently woke her up. I found out her name was Stephanie, she is 17. She had moved out of her parents house and moved in with her sister but she and her sister got in to a fight so she left and somehow ended up at Wal-mart. She didn't think she could go home, so she just tried to find a place to lay down and get some sleep--hoping that no one would notice her or mind that she was there. I talked to her for a good 20 minutes. I listened to her tell me about her problems, and her confusion on what to do, etc. It was made clear to me that her parents are not abusive or mean at all, but it sounded like typical teenage "my parents dont know anything" type of behavior from her. She thought things would be better at her sister! I was able to convince her to call her sister and see if she would let her come back home to sleep (it was about 2am). Her sister was hesitant, but said yes. Her sister could not come and pick her up, and because of policy, I was not able to drive her to her sisters house, so instead I called a cab--found out exactly how much it was going to cost her to get from Wal-mart to her sisters house. I then asked her if she was hungry/thursty. I bought her a bottle of water and a Snickers bar and we waiting together for the cab to arrive. They finally showed up more than an hour later after we had been told it would be 15 min! ugh. The whole time Stephanie and I continued to talk. I told her of my own personal experiences with rebelling and not liking my parents, and moving out, etc...and then I told her what I had learned because of it. I was VERY lucky that nothing bad happened to me, but other girls are not so lucky...I advised her to ask her parents forgiveness and ask if she can move back home. I told her that although her parents may not make sense to her now, they really do have her best interest at heart and they really only what her to be happy and to grow up to be a responsible adult! I gave her my phone number when I put her in the cab-and I gave her money for the cab, plus a little extra and advised her to save it...not spend it. i told her to call me ANYTIME she wanted-day or night-if she ever needed anything in the future and I told her I hoped that she would take my advice to heart....she thanked me, and off she went! I've thought about her a number of times since that night and mentioned to Nick once or twice that I wondered how she was doing now...

Last week before I went to work, she CALLED ME!!! I couldn't believe that she kept my phone number after all this time! I was so happy to hear from her and couldn't contain the tears when she told me that she had listened to my advice, she moved back home, graduated from high school, and had gotten a job. She told me that he dad was not very happy about having her back home, but they were dealing with things and she knew that everything would be fine! She thanked me over and over for taking time out of my day to talk to her and for giving her help. I told her that I really cared about her and that I wanted her to keep my phone number and call me again when she can to keep me updated on her life! I told her I was really proud of her and I hoped she would continue on the path that she is currently on! And that was it---I got off the phone and let the tears flow...Nick was there the whole time and sat wide eyed-amazed as I was that she had called me! He said--it's really true, you NEVER know who's life you can help or influence for the better! :-)