Excerpt from "10-4, Good Buddy: A Miracle Story Chapter 21"
We continued to walk around the mall and look in the windows of different
shops. We were not there to buy anything and had not even planned on it. We were
reorienting ourselves to the world around us and around Evan. This is something
that we hadn’t done in a long while, and it was, in a sense, a very strange
feeling.
Then we saw him; it was Santa Claus. His North Pole away from home was set up in
the center of the downstairs portion of the mall... and he was beautiful! His
beard was real and flowing soft like cotton balls; his belly was just slightly
rotund, but big enough to be Santa.
His clothing was not made in a costume shop, but rather it was meticulously sewn
together with care and precision. His boots were shiny black and shined about as
bright as his smile. He was the picture perfect vision of a grandfather dressed
in real Santa clothing.
He sat on his Santa throne inside the wooden fence that surrounded him and his
elves. Each child that walked by looked at him in complete awe, and he waved at
one each of these children. We had come to a halt just outside of the fence
area, and we were looking at him. Evan was sitting very still in his wheelchair
and observing Santa. Evan didn’t smile or make any motions towards Santa; he
just looked at Santa with sadness on his face.
“Do you want to go talk to Santa and tell him what you want?” we asked him. He
shook his head no and then looked back towards Santa.
“Why?” we urged him. All he did is shake his head no again.
About this time, Santa looked in Evan’s direction. We could almost feel his
stare as he focused on us and the quiet scene that was playing out. When I made
eye contact with Santa, he made a motion with his eyes as if to say ‘Does he
want to talk to me?’ I replied, shaking my head and shirking my shoulders to say
‘I don’t know.’
Then Santa got up from his seat and walked over to where we were. He squatted
down beside Evan’s chair and asked him, “Do you want to come sit on Santa’s lap
and tell me what you want for Christmas?” Evan responded, but this time tears
were coming to his eyes as if he had been repressing them all night.
“I….can’t…….” he said.
“Why can’t you, son?” Santa asked. Evan looked down and repeated what he said
before. Then it dawned on us; Evan was talking about his wheelchair. He didn’t
think he could get out of his wheelchair to get in Santa’s lap. Santa touched
his hand and said “What if your daddy and I help you out of your chair and into
my lap?” Evan paused, and then his eyes cleared a little as he shook his head
yes.
As we made our way towards Santa’s throne, Santa leaned over towards me and
asked me what had happened. Bea Bea and I told him a very brief version of the
story, and we could tell he was touched. Once there, I leaned over and cupped my
arms under Evan’s knees and under his arms to lift him onto Santa’s lap. Once on
his lap, Santa put his arms around Evan and began to talk to him with such peace
and love. The peace that surrounded this man was overwhelming. I moved to the
side and gave them some time to themselves.
Bea Bea and I stood beside the photographer. She asked if we knew that we had
just met the real Santa Claus. We looked at her fairly puzzled and asked her
what it was about him that was so different; there was a difference in this man
that set him apart from all the other Santa’s. She told us a story.
Last year, a little girl had come to see Santa, and the only thing she wanted
was piano lessons. She didn’t want toys or dresses or anything else; she wanted
piano lessons. Before Santa had talked with this young girl, the girl’s mother
pulled Santa to the side and told him that she had just gone through a
devastating divorce. She simply did not have the money to provide a lot for her
daughter this Christmas and for him not to promise her too much. He said he
understood. However, when he heard the simple request this little girl made and
the humbleness in which she requested it, he told her that she would have those
lessons.
When Christmas day came, Santa had tracked down the home of this little girl and
her mother. Once there, he made his special delivery: a brand new piano and a
whole year’s piano lesson to go with it! He had gotten a local piano store to
donate this piano to this child and got someone else to donate year’s piano
lessons! Bea Bea and I were immersed in tears by this time. We could only
imagine the look on that little girl’s face when she not only got her piano
lessons, but a brand new piano as well. We knew then that we had just met the
real Santa.
We looked back over at him and Evan, and they looked as though they were
finishing up. I walked back over to them and lifted Evan back into his
wheelchair; “What did he say he wanted?” I asked.
“At first he said he didn’t want anything; but he did say he wanted some
SuperMags, or something. But that is all he wants; well, besides one other
thing. He misses his family and he wants to go home…your son wants his home for
Christmas,” Santa told me with a small tear in his eye.
“Thanks. Really, thank you.” I told him, barely getting the words out over the
knot that was in my throat.
“You have a really special son, and God is going to heal him, you know. God has
much in store for your son,” He told me.
“I know. I believe He does have something planned for Evan; and God will heal
Evan,” I responded.
“I will be praying for you and your family. It really has been a pleasure to
have met you and your family,” he told us. However, the pleasure was ours.
As we were leaving, we asked the photographer what this Santa did when he wasn’t
Santa. “He’s a minister” she quickly told us with a smile; “and he loves
children!”
“We should have known he was a minister. It is so obvious,” Bea Bea said.
“What else would the real Santa Claus do?” She told us as she continued to smile
warmly.
We waved goodbye and walked on. Evan had a little smile on his face; even though
it wasn’t the biggest smile he had ever shown us. It was a contented, deeply
warm smile that went deep into his soul, and that was enough for us.