I was born and raised in St. Louis, but now live in the Washington, D.C. area. I love St. Louis. My parents still live there, and that city holds so many warm memories for me. I delight in coming home and seeing how much St. Louis continues to grow. I visit often, but now that I am married and have a 3-year-old I can’t get home for Christmas as I once did.
Last Christmas, I was at a loss for good gift ideas at the last minute when it finally came to me – tickets to the Black Rep! I hoped that maybe I could find a way to have the tickets delivered before Christmas.
My plan was to call the Black Rep on Christmas Eve, buy the tickets and have them picked up and delivered by someone local.
On Christmas Eve morning, I called the Black Rep but was told their box office was closed for the day. The nice woman who answered their phone (not a Black Rep employee) promised to try to find someone to call me back.
I was feeling that the Christmas that I’d hoped to share with my parents might not happen, when my phone rang. It was a man I’d never met before who introduced himself as “Ameer” and as a producer at the Black Rep. Amir was calling from his home.
Ameer spent the next hour discussing my options. He graciously agreed to customize the ticket packages to give me exactly what I wanted. He fashioned a “Black Rep passport” that maximized my parents’ options to customize their theatre experience.
Ameer then explained that he didn’t work in the box office and that the Black Rep’s offices were closed. Understanding the importance of Christmas, Ameer surprised me by offering to go into his office and create the gift certificates for both of my parents from scratch.
When Ameer asked me who’d be meeting him at the Black Rep to pick up the certificates, I didn’t know how to answer him. He must have sensed my concern and asked me where my parents lived. Before I knew it, Ameer had offered to personally deliver my gifts to my parents.
When I checked on his progress a few hours later, Ameer explained that he’d been delayed because he had to stop at several Walgreens. Apparently tissue paper is a high-demand item during the Christmas season. Several Walgreens? Tissue paper? Was this stranger really a Christmas angel?
Ameer put together the loveliest Christmas packages, then drove to both of my parents’ homes and delivered their gifts on Christmas Eve night. I was blessed with the opportunity to experience a true and random act of kindness on the most perfect of holidays.
I am sharing this story because it’s such a St. Louis story. It screams a sense of intimacy and a sense of community that St. Louis should be, known for. Seriously, in exactly what other city do things like this happen?
