I have awesome neighbours!
I have awesome neighbours!
After last night’s blizzard, I decided to work from home so that I didn’t have to deal with the roads.
But when things seemed to clear up by early afternoon, I decided I’d run into town with my foster daughter because she doesn’t have proper snow gear yet. (She had to wear my boots to shovel snow this morning.)
Only, the car wouldn’t start when I went out. And I live in a town of 650 people with no shops and no services. The neighbours across the way are gone for Thanksgiving. My dad is a four-hour drive away. And I neglected to renew my AAA membership after Paul died. (Oops!)
So I called Annie, our amazing town clerk. She promised a call back in five minutes. It wasn’t even that long until she called to say that Tim was on his way. Only, I don’t know Tim. But less than five minutes pass again and there’s Tim ready to fix my car.
It took about ½ an hour to get the car going. Tim worked with bare hands in the 10°F temperatures (that’s -11°C if you wondered) then wouldn’t take anything for his trouble.
All the while, another neighbour was busy clearing snow from around my driveway with his tractor. After Tim left, that neighbour asked if he got everything cleared OK. And I, excitedly, said yes. After all, I’d not asked for this favour, he just came by to plough for me as he has for the past two winters.
And these are all different people than the ones who’ve watched my cat whilst I’m away or kept my lawn mowed since Paul died.
Yes, these things might happen in the big city, too, but I think they’re more common in a small town. These good people and their friendly “help your neighbour” attitude will be missed when I return to Scotland. But, then, I always found people to be kind and helpful there, too.
Yay! for awesome neighbours!!
Do you have enough “cough syrup” to give to your helpers? Or, perhaps they would all enjoy some of your wonderful candies this holiday season.
I don’t know if they’re teetotal or not, so I will make some homemade truffles at the weekend to take over for Tim. I always take the neighbour with the tractor a big plate of homemade cookies and candies each year, too.
I am constantly amazed by people’s goodness. Some good friends of ours had their house catch on fire this morning and have lost most of their possessions. By 7 o’clock tonight they had clothing for themselves, all 6 of their children, toiletries, blankets, offers of places to stay and about 500 in cash. It was amazing to watch people come out of the woodwork to help them carry out their pictures, empty their fridge, and just stand with them in the cold watching the firefighters. I love knowing that with all that can be dark and desperate in this world, that there are so many good people willing to lend a hand. It just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Thanks for sharing this, it’s just nice to see that it happens all over.
Amy! Your poor friend! I hope that they’re able to find a warm place to stay over the winter – and that they’re able to get their house back in shape soon! How hard it must be for them; but how great that everyone came out to help!!
People are amazing. We forget that so often!