Okay, so I had what I considered a “bad day” yesterday. But I judged it too quickly. For one thing, getting towed to a garage that was in hometown (& that I had dealt with the business before) was a good thing. The guy, who towed me, drove me home afterwards. I got a call this morning that while I had only broken one “tire rod” the other would soon follow. Now, I know enough about cars to know how to fill it with gas and where the key goes in. But, they gave me a price, told me it would be completed today and they would pick me up when the car was ready.
My biggest dilemma was how I was going to get to a funeral this morning for my friend Ed’s father. Ed I know from work and is a cool guy. I called Dan, who I also work with, who stays overnight at times in Enfield. He was in town and was said he would be happy to pick me up.
Now, here is the most mind-boggling part of the story. My car was stuck in the middle of an intersection in Longmeadow, Mass. I am from out-of-state. Now, cars passed every five minutes, or so. It was a quiet street. What percentage of cars that passed me by, actually stopped to offer assistance? I asked this question to a lot of people today. Everyone responded the same, “Zero, right?”
The answer is “at LEAST 80%!” All ages. The amazing thing was this included a lot of young single women. (No, not interested in me. But too young to help a stranger out.) One guy diagnosed the problem by going under the car. He returned forty-five minutes later, to see how I was. A man drove by and handed me a cell phone saying, “Call Dude, it’s on me.” I thanked him and assured him I had “called dude”. Bless all of them, and it was truly overwhelming.
Old guys, young dudes, hot ladies, old joggers. In fact, it was so obviously a rarity if a car actually did not stop, to offer me help. But then, I had a problem the drivers could not fix. I had to pee. Everyone was damn friendly that I just went up to the nearest house and asked if I could use the bathroom. The first house said yes.
Anyway, thank you Longmeadow. You guys rock!
