Lost on the Highway

Last night we headed home from my mother and father-in-law's home a lot later than usual. We usually try to be home around suppertime, but we stayed late and decided to put the kids in their pjs and let them sleep in the car.

My husband and I were visiting about the fun we had on the weekend when we were travelling along the busy highway that brings us home. We were about 2 miles outside of a small town and we saw someone walking along the busy highway in the dark. We looked at each other and knew that something was not right.

My husband drove a little until he found a place he could turn around and we went back to find out if we could help. He pulled over and got out to talk to this woman. She was elderly, it was very dark, she was dressed in a light sweater and capri pants. I looked at the outside temperature gauge in our vehicle. It was only 34 degrees outside.

When my husband asked this woman what she was doing she said she was walking home. She was very confused. She had to have been on this highway for an hour. Her destination was 50 miles away. She told my husband she was a couple of miles from home.

He called 911 and asked them to have someone come and help this woman. The dispatch called back and said we will send someone, but we can't make her get in the car. . .What?! My husband told them we are not leaving until someone comes to help her.

She would not get into our car, she just kept walking. My husband put on his hazard lights and drove slowly on the highway right behind her to keep other cars from hitting her. I wish I would have counted the amount of cars drove by while we inched along. The speed limit on this highway is 70 mph. This woman had to have been on that road for an hour with no one stopping to help.

The disptach called back and said that this woman was missing from the nursing home at the town we had just drove through. They sent out an employee to pick her up. We followed her for 20 minutes before they arrived to take her home.

My older girls woke up when we pulled over to talk to her. They were so confused as to why we had to stop. We talked to them about the Good Samaritain. We talked about how probably 50 cars drove by this woman and no one stopped to help. They know the story. Now they experienced it in real life.

My husband and I are never on that road this late at night. God knew we needed to be on that road last night.