• Posted By Crazy Single Mom @ 9:25 PM • • •
Friday, March 11, 2005
A little bit of Christmas in March
I appreciate righteous indignation, and I appreciate strong convictions. Lord knows I have quite a few of both. I like to know what's going on in the world, and have strong opinions on all of them. Someday I may be tempted to share them with you. But I didn't start this blog for an agenda, I started it to have fun and to write out some things about my life, the fact that there are readers who like to read what I write, well I appreciate all of you! I sometimes feel that we don't hear enough good stuff, so here is a story from Christmas two years ago.
I had waited until a week before Christmas to do Christmas shopping for Princess (or anyone for that matter but this story has to do with Princesses buying trip) quite frankly because I was strapped that year. Finally, the week before Christmas the Christmas tips started to come in, and that is what I used to buy presents. My friend worked at Toys R Us, but in a town quite a ways away. It was a Friday night, she was working, so off Princess and I went, she was going to give us her employee discount, yes she truly is a good friend. Princess was just about to turn two, so it was easy to buy her presents with her there because at that age she was so easily distracted....NEVER would work now! I went, I bought, and I headed home. On the way home, my tire blew. I had no spare, and no cell phone. I was stuck on the highway. I man in another car saw the tire blow and stopped to see if I was alright. He asked me if I had a spare, or a cell phone, and when I told him no, he just looked at me. Then he seemed to make up his mind about something. He told me that he would take me and my daughter to a gas station the next exit up and there I could call a tow truck. Not only did he take Princess and me, but he took all the presents saying that he just couldn't think of my daughter having her presents stolen. We got to the gas station, and the station manager let me use the store phone, which was against company policy but she took pity on me. She put me in touch with a tow truck driver who said he would be happy to tow me but that he wasn't insured for a baby and a car seat, so could I see if I could get a ride. I tried, but it was Friday night, no one was home. after about 10 minutes of frantic calling, the tow truck driver called the gas station to see if I had gotten a ride. I told him no. He told me that he was out having dinner with a friend, who was upset knowing that I was stuck with my baby and was I comfortable with him driving us home. I hesitated just a minute, as I did NOT know them, but the gas station attendant told me the tow truck driver was alright and would never do anything to harm anyone. I told them thankyou and how grateful I was. Both showed up, I told the tow truck driver where my mechanic was and how he could leave the car there, the friend took Princess and me and all the presents in his car and off we went to meet the tow truck driver at my mechanics. We got there, and the tow truck driver gave me a price, which was just a basic fee with no mileage, I asked him about it, he said hey its Christmas week, this is a present for you and your daughter. By this time I was just about in tears, because I never expected complete strangers to act so kindly to me. I payed the man, tried to tip him which he refused and told me to buy Princess another present. The friend took us home and helped me into my house with the presents. I tried to pay him for his kindness, and he said no, it was his pleasure, besides his wife would kill him if she knew he had taken money from a single mom. I went in and cried, not because of my car, but because of kindness of so many who didn't know me and yet still went out of their way to help me. The next day my mechanic fixed my flat, and didn't charge me, giving me yet another Christmas gift. Since that day, I've tried to do kindness to people whenever I can, but I can never truly pay back what the good Samaritan, the gas station attendant, the tow truck driver, his friend, and my mechanic did for me. It made me realize that the good people get overlooked a lot because of the tragedy that usually makes up the news. It made me realize that with all the commercialism of the holidays, there were some people who truly lived up to the "spirit" of the holidays. It made me realize that hero's are people like you and me.
The next time you hear something that may make you sad or mad, by all means don't ignore it, if you can do something about it do it. But take the time to appreciate all those people in life who just do the right thing, not for glory or recognition, but because they want to do it. And try to do a kindness to someone else, it may change their lives just a bit.
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