Love Comes to Town
I can think of numerous times when random strangers have shown love to my family.
We have the Cracker Barrel guy who brought Matt and I to our knees overwhelmed by his timing and generosity and the Angel Lady in the Commissary parking lot who helped me load my kids into the van and told me that everything was going to be ok.
There was the guy in Spain who drove 10 miles out of his way to help us find our hotel, the farmer in Switzerland who gassed up our car at his dairy farm when we were unbelievably close to requiring a visit from the Roadside Assist van, the man in Croatia who helped me heave Gabe up onto the rocks to spare him from the beating the wake was causing, and that guy driving a white cargo van who kindly moved the 10inch long knife to the side of his seat so that the boys and I could climb in and be rescued from the dangers of the Autobahn.
There are probably so many more, these are just the ones that stick out.
These are just the ones I know about.
I'm sure people have done things for us that I'll never know of.
A few nights ago Matt and I were leaving a concert and stuck in a ridiculous traffic jam.
The venue was in the middle of actual nowhere. One road in/out.
Nightmare.
We were super angry that we had paid $30 to park in the VIP lot that would assist us in getting out faster, and yet we were at a complete standstill for 20 minutes. Nobody was going anywhere.
As we finally reached the light at the end of the tunnel, we were approached by a young woman who offered us $40 to give her and friends a ride into town. They had taken a taxi to the venue but found out shortly after the concert was over that no cab or uber would be coming in to pick them up. All lanes for the venue were heading out, nobody was coming in.
I looked at her and said "we aren't going that way".
So she took this as a sign that she simply wasn't offering enough money and proceeded to raise her offer... Matt and I looked at the group, and told her to give us a second. Matt figured it would only take us an extra 15-20 minutes to go through the town they needed to get to so we told them to jump in. The last offer the lady had mentioned was $80. Her friends weren't so keen on the idea so they declined the ride. Matt said "no, you aren't paying $80! Give us $40 and we'll be your uber".
So they piled in. A group of 20 somethings from outside of Seattle.
Our frustration with the traffic seemed to disappear as they entered the van and we started chatting.
I'm not sure how long it took us to drop them off but by the time they got there they asked us to join them for some table games at the local Indian Casino.
We found out that they had asked over 30 cars before us for a ride and everyone had turned them down. Now, if they were creepy looking, drunk, or had dreadlocks (Nasty) I could see the concern but none was the case here.
They were so grateful and "wished that good things will happen as we lay our head on the pillow" that night as repayment for the ride, and were on their way to finish off their evening out.
I'm not suggesting picking up strangers on the side of the road in all circumstances...but this little lift proved to pick up our spirits and help them out a ton.
The next day I was looking at photos people posted on instagram with the hashtag of the concert name. I was scrolling through and WAIT A MINUTE... in the first 20 pictures in the list was one that captured our four uber riders from the night before.
Something about seeing their smiling faces made me so happy that we helped them out.
I needed this reminder of the kindness that has been shown to me from strangers, and I hope that I will have my eyes opened to opportunities to reach out to others in a small way that may make a big impact.
We have the Cracker Barrel guy who brought Matt and I to our knees overwhelmed by his timing and generosity and the Angel Lady in the Commissary parking lot who helped me load my kids into the van and told me that everything was going to be ok.
There was the guy in Spain who drove 10 miles out of his way to help us find our hotel, the farmer in Switzerland who gassed up our car at his dairy farm when we were unbelievably close to requiring a visit from the Roadside Assist van, the man in Croatia who helped me heave Gabe up onto the rocks to spare him from the beating the wake was causing, and that guy driving a white cargo van who kindly moved the 10inch long knife to the side of his seat so that the boys and I could climb in and be rescued from the dangers of the Autobahn.
There are probably so many more, these are just the ones that stick out.
These are just the ones I know about.
I'm sure people have done things for us that I'll never know of.
A few nights ago Matt and I were leaving a concert and stuck in a ridiculous traffic jam.
The venue was in the middle of actual nowhere. One road in/out.
Nightmare.
We were super angry that we had paid $30 to park in the VIP lot that would assist us in getting out faster, and yet we were at a complete standstill for 20 minutes. Nobody was going anywhere.
As we finally reached the light at the end of the tunnel, we were approached by a young woman who offered us $40 to give her and friends a ride into town. They had taken a taxi to the venue but found out shortly after the concert was over that no cab or uber would be coming in to pick them up. All lanes for the venue were heading out, nobody was coming in.
I looked at her and said "we aren't going that way".
So she took this as a sign that she simply wasn't offering enough money and proceeded to raise her offer... Matt and I looked at the group, and told her to give us a second. Matt figured it would only take us an extra 15-20 minutes to go through the town they needed to get to so we told them to jump in. The last offer the lady had mentioned was $80. Her friends weren't so keen on the idea so they declined the ride. Matt said "no, you aren't paying $80! Give us $40 and we'll be your uber".
So they piled in. A group of 20 somethings from outside of Seattle.
Our frustration with the traffic seemed to disappear as they entered the van and we started chatting.
I'm not sure how long it took us to drop them off but by the time they got there they asked us to join them for some table games at the local Indian Casino.
We found out that they had asked over 30 cars before us for a ride and everyone had turned them down. Now, if they were creepy looking, drunk, or had dreadlocks (Nasty) I could see the concern but none was the case here.
They were so grateful and "wished that good things will happen as we lay our head on the pillow" that night as repayment for the ride, and were on their way to finish off their evening out.
I'm not suggesting picking up strangers on the side of the road in all circumstances...but this little lift proved to pick up our spirits and help them out a ton.
The next day I was looking at photos people posted on instagram with the hashtag of the concert name. I was scrolling through and WAIT A MINUTE... in the first 20 pictures in the list was one that captured our four uber riders from the night before.
Something about seeing their smiling faces made me so happy that we helped them out.
I needed this reminder of the kindness that has been shown to me from strangers, and I hope that I will have my eyes opened to opportunities to reach out to others in a small way that may make a big impact.
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