Earlier this week I had my red Subaru Outback loaded with garbage bags of donations for Goodwill. I decided to check and see if the donation trailer in the Walmart parking lot was open instead of taking the load to the store. I had to pick up some mulch to use around my Little Free Library and thought I could kill two birds with one stone so to speak.
The rain was threatening to come and I was trying to get my 5 stops done before the deluge set in. It made sense to try to consolidate trips .
As I pulled up to the trailer I was pleased to see the Open sign and the doors wide open . I pulled up along side and started to unload my bags with the help of the Goodwill employee. I am always happy to share with Goodwill because they employ folks that may not have a job otherwise. I know there are a lot of different places to donate to and I have highlighted a couple here on the blog before including #GiveBackBox and StandWith#Malala. There are literally dozens of places that take clothing donations even here in our smallish town so I try to rotate my donations.
But I digress.
As I was unloading my bags I was approached by an older gentleman who had pulled his pick up truck close to to my Subaru in the parking lot. Now if you know me well you know that I always have conversations with older men. Always have and always will. I have some kind of “old guy” attraction. The “old” adjective is getting a little different as I get older myself but anyone older than me is “older” , right?
So Mr. Pick Up Truck asked me if I lived in Connestee Falls and I answered yes. He said he had followed me down the mountain and I got a little nervous and said “I hope I was driving okay”. He responded that I was driving fine but he wanted to tell me about my lights. Apparently one of my front lights was out and he noticed that as I braked around the many curves coming down the mountain that one of my front lights was lit up and one wasn’t.
Ah ha. Now it made sense. I have these cool lights on my car that light up when I go around corners. So if I am going left the left one lights up to highlight that area. If I am turning to the right it illuminates the right. I don’t have to do a thing. The car just does it. Couple that with using my brakes as I was cornering and he thought I had some weird car with a light out. Alternating lights out actually. Mystery solved.
A conversation ensued and Mr. Pick Up Truck was a pretty neat guy who had taken the time to try to let a fellow neighbor know that her car was not working right. Well, it was, but you get what I mean. He went out of his way to take the time to let me know of a potential problem. How often does that happen anymore?
Maybe it is small town living.
Maybe it is the Southern culture.
Maybe somehow he knew that we had a common connection –Alabama.
Maybe it was just his normal thing to do.
Regardless I found it refreshing.
It was kind of the extraordinary in the ordinary.
It was a wonderful five minutes spent talking to a new friend.
Life is too short, my friends, to not take the time to reach out and do a kindness to someone.
And guess what? You don’t have to live in Brevard, NC to do it.
You can make a difference right where you are at today.
So what are you going to do today to share a kindness? Leave me a comment in the comment section and let me know what kindness you will share today. All comments go to support our Comments for a Cause –Railway Children.
