The Kindness of Acquaintances

I was going to write the kindness of strangers, but these people weren't really strangers, they were acquaintances.

Today I was supposed to be on a flight to Washington DC from Minneapolis, after we had gotten 12 inches of snow on Sunday. We were concerned about making it out at all, and I'm still a bit concerned about making it back in time, since the weather system has now hit DC. I'm actually sitting in the lobby of a hotel we're not staying at, since the hotel we're staying at doesn't have power right now.

Monday morning I was leaving later in the morning to go directly to the airport so I was going to drop off the girls at daycare. I drove the three blocks there on roads that are only 1 car wide, due to plowing and snow depths. I got to the center and as I attempted to turn into the parking lot I realized that it wasn't plowed out! But it was too late, I was already stuck in the snow, with two girls in the backseat, I'm in nice dress clothes that have to somehow continue to look nice through a flight AND a meeting, and...now I'm running late to the airport because I'm stuck in snow.

One of the other moms who just dropped off her kids saw my dilemma and, with the help of a stranger who stopped, helped push me out of the snow. She then stuck around long enough to help carry both girls into the center, as the sidewalk was not shoveled out and I had to go along the street, right along with the cars, to get into the center. It would have been extremely dangerous with me shepherding the two girls, as it was it was only semi-dangerous with her carrying Lindsey and me carrying Marissa.

I was ever grateful to her for her help that morning, and for the help of the man who stopped to help me get out of the snowbank. It's those small gestures that truly make me so appreciative, and desire the opportunity to reciprocate.