Love Little Towns

So, my doorbell rings this morning while the kids are getting ready to go wait for the bus. (the doorbell ringing is in itself a rarity. Really, I'm not sure why I installed one. I get, on average, about three unexpected visitors a year.) And it's Mary and her stepson Sam. (Mary's husband is Mark's Little League coach.) Her Beetle just *stopped* on the corner of my road. She was on her way to take Sam to the dentist.

So, my kids hop on the bus while we are trying to fix Mary up. (and I hobble quickly upstairs to get dressed, because of course, I was in my jammies.) First, she calls the dentist's office to tell them Sam's not coming. Then I take Sam to school (he wasn't even late) while she is tracking down someone to help her fix the car. She thinks she needs a jump. She called a local mechanic's shop, but they don't have roadside. The roadside company they recommend are backed up doing tows for the police. The roadside company she has for her *other* vehicle doesn't do Beetles. She gets the owner of a small store down the road (a friend of hers) to come over to help her out. (oh, and the dentist's office calls to find out where Sam was...turns out she called the wrong dentist's office. There are two offices located right next to each other.) And Edwin's trying to jump the car (which involved taking out the entire back seat to get to the battery--fortunately she has a convertible), and it's not working, and that's when he noticed....

The car was out of gas.

And neither of them have a gas can, but fortunately I do, and it has juuuuuust enough gas in it to get her to his store, where she could fill up. And she filled my gas can back up (with actually more than it started with, the sweetheart), and all is well, only an hour of the day spent in total embarrassment for her.

So, to ease her mind, I told her about the time I spent four days cooking in the dark. 'Cause we all have our idiot moments, and these usually occur in front of many other people.

But the great thing about small towns is that there are always people around to help you out. Today I got to be one of the helpers. Love that feeling. mk

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2:30pm postscript: Just got finished planting a trio of beautiful Navona Asiatic Lilies that were delivered about a half-hour ago with a note: "Thanks. I appreciate your help this morning! Mary & Sam"

Isn't that the nicest thing? I was floored. mk