I have been working at a steel mill and I wake in the mid afternoon following a 12 hour night shift feeling dry, hungry and a little fazed from the altered sleep patterns of the last few weeks. There is an Asian takeaway at a nearby supermarket which I decide to go to out of convenience and through haste.

I arrive at the counter and order the beef and black bean with rice. I'm asked if I would mind waiting so that they can put some fresh rice on for me. A sense of annoyance almost prevents me from recognising the kind gesture of the lady serving me. I turn and walk towards a table in the plaza after she has further humbled the impatience out of me by saying she would bring the food over when it was ready.

I sit at the table reflecting on my emotions and put a rational perspective on them. I consider that I have come to this place to eat, do some shopping and then return to my room to prepare for another shift at the steel mill. It was not my expectation to be waiting at a table for food. I then have a thought about fate. I realised that while I am sitting here anything could happen; that perhaps the unexpected delay meant that an angel might step into my life. I imagined being in a movie where I was sitting in a restaurant. I leave the restaurant hurriedly through a door at the exact same time as my destined life partner walks in through another. I realise then just how often it is that I do not sit in the moment and let the universe unfold around me. I gather some peace from these thoughts and then behind me I hear the cutlery clinking and my food is soon at the table.

I had noticed while I was waiting, an elderly couple seated near me. They looked to be aged somewhere in their seventies and I imagined that they had been together forever. There was an etched sadness in the man's face and I saw something in the woman that spoke of strength. They had just finished eating and she went to get up from her chair. He looked over to her, beginning to offer some help, but she held up her hand in a gesture that said; no, I will be alright. I saw her slowly move away from the table in an arduous, yet rhythmic shuffle towards - I discovered later - a bathroom about 100 metres away. Her pace was as slow as that of a crawling baby and I suddenly understood her partner's wish to assist her. I was touched to see the determination in this woman. My own mother, at 83 has very little movement as well and her life consists of steadying her way around the house with the assistance of a walking frame. I wondered why the woman I was watching didn't use one and then thought of the pride that must exist behind her resolve. I guessed her to be someone who had never given up easily. I looked again at her partner who was watching her intently. I could almost breathe the sadness that was coming out of him. Every time I looked up at him the expression was still there. It was as if he was asking why - a question that may never be answered - that after all these years their union had come to this. I wondered if I was feeling compassion towards them and when I looked at his face one last time before leaving, I saw that through the pain there lay some kind of strength. Perhaps he had learned it from her.

I went back to where I had been ten minutes earlier when I was paying attention to my impatience. I realised that I had moved away from it through observing this couple. I understood then that I had been touched by an angel, she may even be floating above me right now as I finish writing this story.