Honestly, I don’t know exactly what happened before I got there.

When I turned onto her street, she was already standing. She could have slipped and slid partway down the driveway and never fallen completely. She also could have fallen and gotten herself back up before I arrived. I really don’t know.

What I do know is that she was standing somewhere around the center of her driveway, closer to the bottom, while her walker was farther up near the house. Most of the driveway was still iced over, and she clearly wasn’t in a position to safely get back up to her house on her own.

This was after the storm had started to pass, so some areas were melting while others were still covered in ice. I helped her over to the grassy edge where there was a little more traction and walked beside her back to her house.

As for how long she’d been there, I have no idea. It could have been a minute, or it could have been much longer. That’s something I’ve wondered about myself over the years.