The Kindness of Strangers
If you read my last post asking what your Labor Day weekend plans were, you know my husband and I went camping. Well, that was the plan anyway.
After getting lost, almost driving off a boat ramp, and then nearly hitting a deer, our car finally succumbed to a rock. That’s right. We ran over a rock. A large one. And then the check engine light came on, the engine overheated, and we discovered a growing pool of transmission fluid under our car. This happened at 10:00 pm, on a highway in the national forest, with very little cell service. Not exactly what we had in mind!
Desperate as we were, we had no choice but to try and flag down some help from other motorists. Surprisingly, several cars (and even big rigs) passed right on by without helping.
That’s when the kindest couple stopped by. As we were unable to drive our car, they gave us a ride into the nearest town, which is a very small town just off the highway. They had a vacation home in the area and were just headed there. They offered to take us to the town’s hotel, or to let us stay with them. The man kindly offered to let us call his driver’s license in to the police to verify he was not dangerous.
PLEASE note that I am NOT advising that you stay with strangers yourself, as this was a unique situation, but we did accept their gracious offer to stay the night. Wouldn’t you know, we had a comfy futon to sleep on, friendly hosts, and even a bathroom all to ourselves in the basement. God couldn’t have protected us or made us more comfortable than this! This nice couple fed us breakfast and drove us to meet the tow truck the next morning.
As it turned out, we were able to camp for a night anyway, as nothing could be done for our poor car until the holiday weekend ended. We had a pleasant time with our friends doing all the usual camping activities–eating food cooked over the fire, playing games, taking in the scenery.
However, it was bitterly cold at night, even in our-20 degree sleeping bags, so we decided it was time to head home. Fortunately, my husband’s parents live about an hour away, and they kindly agreed to pick us up from our campsite, take us home, and stay with us for the night before driving 3 hours back to their house on Monday. We had a wonderful day of fishing and visiting before they left.
This was my first experience with what I have heard of as “small town hospitality,” and the sense of community in this town reminded me of the tight-knit closeness of the Amish. Everyone in the town, from the people at the local diner to the angels on earth who took us into their home, showed us kindness, cheered us up, and went above and beyond what I would have expected anyone to do for a stranger.
What about you? Have you had someome show you extraordinary kindness? Or have you had the chance to show hospitality and mercy to someone else? I’d love to hear your stories.
Thankful today…
-Elizabeth
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Elizabeth, What a wonderful story. It’s nice to hear that there are still people out there who are actually that kind and trustworthy. It’s hard to find nowadays. Glad you had a good weekend anyway, despite the car mishap. Only thing I wonder is what national forest were you in? Thanks for sharing, Sue
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Elizabeth Reply:
September 7th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
Thank you, Sue! Yes, we made the best of it. We were in the Deschutes National Forest in Oregon.
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Sounds like you were truly taken in by angels.
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Elizabeth Reply:
September 7th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Definitely! Some of the nicest people I have ever met. Part of me wonders if maybe they were angels. I am hoping I still have their phone number so I can somehow properly thank them.
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