The Kindness of Friends and Strangers

Saturday our family had an experience, we experienced kindness.

About 5:00 we were all loaded up in the mini-van on our way to my sisters house for a birthday party barbecue. We were all pretty excited, I love to spend time with my family and the kids wanted to play with their cousins. The weather was great, it was nice and sunny, we had potato salad and birthday gifts in hand, life was good!

About 7 miles down the road the oil light in the van came on. Dadzoo figured we could get the few yard to the gas station (this is the closest gas station to our house…I know, 7 miles to the closest gas station…nuts!) so we rolled in. Our van is old, with many miles in it, (it is paid off, so I am willing to over look its elderly status) it pretty much leaks oil and antifreeze so we just figured we could buy a quart of oil and be on our way. As we slowed to a stop I noticed a little smoke coming our of the hood….oh stink….and when Dadzoo opened the hood there was oil all over everything and dripping down to the ground in a puddle. Oh double stink!

As we sat there looking into the guts of the van, dollar signs, and the worry about our lack of dollars dancing through our minds, a lady came over and offered us the use of her cell phone. “I can’t really help much, but I have my phone if you need it,” she said. We thanked her, but had a cell phone. I called my mom and explained that we wouldn’t be making it to the party and asked her to call my sister, then I called my neighbor, Brandi, asking her for a ride. She didn’t even hesitate and told me she would be right there.

Then we stared into our van again. Then a man came over and offered help, “Do you need to use my cell phone, is there anything I can do?”

“No thank you.” we said “we have a cell phone, but thank you so much for offering.

We then called a tow truck and waited for my neighbor to come.

As we were sitting on the grass waiting another man pulled up and asked if we needed help!

Our neighbor arrived and drove all but Dadzoo and Punk#1 home (there wasn’t enough room) h about half way there I realized that I didn’t have a house key. Sigh….so my dear Brandi turned her car around and we went to pick up the house key from Dadzoo, then she drove me home. She dropped me off at my house and helped me unload all the junk from my van (including the potato salad I had made for 40 people, that I was now going to have to get rid of myself) and took my kids to her house so I could go pick up my two stragglers.

We ended up getting pizza for the two family and had our own little picnic, the evening ended up really nice, despite the fact our family car is broken down.

I was really touched by the kindness that was shown to my family. First by our neighbor and good friend Brandi, I knew I could count on her, she is very giving and kind. She is the first person to stand up and help when help is needed, even when she hadn’t been asked. I have many, many stories about times she had stepped up and helped me. I thank my Father in Heaven for friends like her, and I hope that someday I will be able to repay her. Second, I was surprised how many people stopped to offer their assistance. There was a time about a year ago I was stranded on the side of the road with all my kids and no one stopped to help, so I was happily shocked to have three people stop. There really is goodness and kindness left in this world.