When I go home to Alabama for the holidays, I love to drive around town and look at the places that have special memories for me. I enjoy dollar stores, K Marts, and hardware shops. They allow me time to piddle and talk to interesting people.
It was a couple of days before Christmas, so I was looking for a few more stocking stuffers for my children. After finding some neat inexpensive things, I started back toward my in-laws house where we were staying for Christmas. My cell phone rang, and I saw that it was a number from Gary, Indiana.
Teaching classes online, my students are all over the country and sometimes the world. Final grades had just been posted for the fall semester; I figured it was a student wanting to try to talk me into changing a grade or question my final decision.
Answering the phone in a cheerful voice and hoping for the best, I simply said “Hello, this is Professor Heard.” Generally, I like to pull over before answering the phone, but the traffic was not too bad.
The voice of a much older woman said “My goodness, I am sorry; I was trying to call my granddaughter in Williamsburg.” My number is a Williamsburg number, so I knew she had probably just made a mistake.
Still driving down the road, I simply said “That’s ok, you have just made my day better, and maybe God wanted you to call me.” She was older; I was just trying to make her feel better about her error.
We stayed on the phone for about 45 minutes.
After I had told her that God might have wanted her to call me, she said “You know, He probably did, I pray for people in all 50 states.” I told her “It (praying) makes a difference, don’t ever let anyone tell you that it doesn’t.” She said “I know it does, Praise the Lord.”
I simply said “Yes Ma’am.”
I pulled off the road and into a parking lot and continued talking to the lady who had dialed my number by mistake.
Her name was Phyllis, “Like Phyllis Diller” she said.
Phyllis grew up in an area close to where I live, in the upper part of the county, she called it “Twah-no,” referring to Toano, Virginia. I’ve always pronounced it “Toe –Ann –O.” I’m probably wrong.
Phyllis’ father Willie died in 1967, he was the fellow who raised and looked after the horses for “the little girls over at the college.” I knew she was referring to William & Mary and I could tell she was very proud of her father. We talked about him and her childhood and how she had ended up alone in Gary, Indiana.
Just about every two or three sentences, Phyllis simply said “Praise the Lord.” She meant it, I could tell it in her voice.
She said she was part black and part Chickahominy Indian and that there were a lot of Chickahominy Indians up around Toano. Phyllis continued talking, and I would simply say “Yes Ma’am.”
She said “You know I look Puerto Rican, I have curly hair.”
I said “Yes Ma’am, that’s interesting.”
She said folks called her “Curly” growing up, we both laughed. There was no doubt that Phyllis had not made a mistake, she had called the right number.
Some things you just know in your heart.
Phyllis asked if I ever get up to Toano, I said “Yes Ma’am, my daughter used to ride horses up that way.”
She said “Let me tell you this, you need to go up to the Chickahominy Church, they have a black preacher up there by the name of Reverend Hammond. I’m going to tell you like it is, that man can preach a sermon, he lays it out there.”
Again, I said “Yes Ma’am, I’d like to do that.” She went on to say that “…all folks are welcome, color doesn’t matter.” I said “I know that’s right.”
She followed with “Amen, God doesn’t separate nobody. Thank you Jesus.”
I said “Yes Ma’am.”
Having the time of my life, writing as fast as I could with a #2 Ticonderoga lead pencil on Jack’s Hamburger napkins, I was doing my best to keep up with Phyllis. Trying to keep her on the phone (it really wasn’t an issue); I asked her “Phyllis, can I ask you a question?”
She said “You can ask me anything, I’m just blessed to be here.”
I simply asked her “How old are you?”
She laughed and said she was born in 1921 and that her birthday was February 10th. Of course, I had to follow with “Are you telling me you are going to be 90 on February 10th?”
She said “Yes, God willing, if He wants me to be. Praise the Lord.”
She then started asking me if I was married and about my children. I talked to her just like she was my grandmother, she very well could have been. Then she asked me how old I was.
I told her my age and she said “You ain’t nothing but a jitterbug.”
I laughed.
She laughed.
I laughed more and could not talk.
She was carrying on and having a good time, so was I.
Finally, I was able to compose myself enough to ask her where she got that phrase “You ain’t nothing but a jitterbug.”
She said “It just came to me. Praise the Lord. Things come to me.”
Phyllis went on to tell me about the surgery she recently had on cataracts in both eyes. She expects to be healed by summer and be able to come to see her granddaughter in Virginia.
“My God is blessing me, everything He does is perfect. Ain’t nothing too hard for Him to do.”
I simply said “Yes Ma’am.”
Her only son died in 1997. Phyllis has one grandchild left who lives in Virginia, and two great grandchildren. She was calling to check on her granddaughter, who had fallen down the stairs.
Phyllis said “You know she was going down those wood stairs sock footed and she fell. She went and messed up her hind parts, her butt parts and her back. She went and broke her tail bone.”
I said “That is terrible.”
After more talk about sock feet and stairs, we figured out that she had missed her granddaughter’s phone number by just the last digit.
She asked if it was ok if she called me sometimes and I said that it would be fine. She then asked me what the best time to call was and I simply said “the afternoon.”
Phyllis then asked “What time in the afternoon?”
I laughed and said between 5 and 6, she said “OK.”
She was very concerned about what my wife would think. “You tell your wife that a woman will be calling you and not to worry about it.”
I just said “Yes Ma’am.”
This all happened two days before Christmas, 2010.
On Christmas day, between 5 and 6 PM, my cell phone rang. It was Phyllis.
She said “Bless you and Merry Christmas.”
I knew who it was.
I said “Phyllis, how are you today?”
She said she was wonderful. We talked for a few minutes and she asked about my children. Then she told me she got the best gift today. I said “Oh really? What was it Phyllis?”
Phyllis said “My Christmas present is Jesus Christ whose blood was tied into a bow around him as a gift to all of us saying I love you and I came to save the world.”
It set me back so much, I made her say it again so I could make sure I got it right.
She only kept me for a few minutes. A lot of folks would be scared by someone who says such things. I consider it a miracle.
I told Phyllis “I love you and I will talk to you next week.”
She said “I love you too, Praise the Lord.”
Then I had to add, “Hey Phyllis, you didn’t dial the wrong number did you?”
She said “No baby, I sure didn’t. Merry Christmas”
Another story about Phyllis can be found here.
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I'm BN Heard and I like semicolons, dogs and being called a jitterbug.
... and yes, this is a true story. BN
Posted by: BN Heard | 12/25/2010 at 11:13 PM
What a wonderful "God moment" story Brent! Thanks so much for sharing. It brought tears to my eyes.
Posted by: Melanie | 12/26/2010 at 06:40 AM
Not one person who comes into our lives is random, not even the bad ones. It is the good people who make the bad and yeah, irritating, bearable. When a Phyllis like Phyllis Diller wanders in, ya gotta cherish her. Keep us in the loop.
Posted by: Deb | 12/26/2010 at 10:47 AM
Brent, God NEVER makes mistakes! He brought you and Phyllis together for a reason. One you may never know what it is, but that's OK because you answered His call that day! I always thought you to be a Christian when I took Statistics, but now I know for sure and that does my heart good. As a Christian myself, I know Phyllis dialed the RIGHT number! God Bless Mr. Heard. God Bless!
Deb Russell
Posted by: Deborah Russell | 12/26/2010 at 10:08 PM
Thank you for sharing this story. A former student, T
Posted by: tammy | 12/26/2010 at 11:44 PM
Thank you for sharing your story. It was very up lifting and encouraging. God Bless You and Phyllis.
Posted by: Lora | 12/27/2010 at 10:54 AM
Thanks so much for sharing. My husband and I moved to WiIlliamsburg three years ago and we recently started attending Chickahominy Baptist. In fact, we are on our way to Watch Night service there tonight. Phyllis was right...Rev Hammond is truly a spirit filled preacher. Whenever I go I feel that I am hearing a message from God. Haven't met Phyllis yet but I'll look for her. God Bless you and your family and have a wonderful New Year!
Posted by: Jeannie | 12/31/2010 at 09:07 PM