The Fish Pond: The Kindness of Strangers and the Crazies of Husbands

Today I went to Trader Joe's and took Nemo with me. Since he can't yet sit in the cart seat and sit up straight I had him in the Babyhawk and he slept the entire trip all snuggled up against me. When I had pulled into my parking space I pulled through, so I pulled up to the very front of the space so I'd have enough room to open my liftgate to load up my groceries. They don't allow the customers to take the carts out into the parking lot themselves, but they will gladly help you out to your car if you wish. Since it was only five bags and I was parked in the front row, though, I grabbed the lightest bag when I came out and went to load Nemo in the car, then get the rest of the groceries. When I got to my van, however, the person who parked behind me pulled up too far, over the line of the space, so I had barely 6 inches of clearance to open my lift gate. I put the groceries down, stepped to the side to open the liftgate sideways, put my bag of groceries in, then walked around to the side of the van to get Nemo out of the babyhawk. For some reason, I was having trouble untying the knots in the straps, and as I stood there and struggled, a woman walked up toward me with a bag of groceries, and I thought she was going to the car behind me.

"These are yours - I saw you there and thought you'd need some help." With that, that wonderful angel woman put the bag of groceries in my car, and by the time I finally got myself all untangled from the babyhawk and got Nemo in the car, she had loaded all of my remaining bags in my car.

A total stranger helping out someone in need. If you don't live around the DC burbs you may not understand just how rare a helping hand to this extent is - people hold doors, pick up dropped things, maybe, if you are very lucky, but I've lived here my whole life and never have I even witnessed someone helping someone out like this. Any time I have attempted to help someone to this extent people act suspicious and get so defensive, so unfortunately I've learned that it usually isn't worth the risk to even offer to help. I know what she risked to do so, and I responded as I would have wanted someone to respond to me.

I thanked her profusely, probably six times, strapped Nemo into his carseat, shut my lift gate, and grinned the whole way home.

If by some weird cosmic or divine coincidence you read this blog, dear wonderful person, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You made my day. I fully intend to pay it forward.

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And for some weird humor (and yes, I have his permission to post this):

Sunday morning I woke up to the phone ringing, and instead of the dreaded call about my grandfather it was my father freaking out about his taxes. After calming him down I hung up and just sighed, still not even roused out of bed yet.

"I've got a disney sticker on my scrotum."

"What?"

"I've got a sticker stuck to my nuts. In two pieces. At first I thought it was some sort of weird growth on my testicles and I was laying here contemplating my impending death, but then I looked. It's a princess sticker. On my nuts. In two pieces."

I just looked at him and blinked. We hadn't even sat up in bed yet. Then I cracked up. It must have come off our clothes and ended up in the bed.

That's what he gets for sleeping naked.