The kindness of strangers (and some not-so-strange)

Today I am reminded of what exactly I love about the holidays - the caring attitudes that people have towards strangers (mostly)! My car has been on the fritz since Sunday which scares me. We have always said that we would leave the car in VT and just buy a new one when we get to residency, but right now I am just praying that this car will last us another 18 months!! Justin got my car to start on Sunday - then he drove it. Monday, the boys and I didn't go anywhere (it's been snowy and cold, so why leave the house) so I didn't need to try to see if it would work. Today, however, is a different story. Clayton had school at 9, then I needed to go to the post office before hurrying over to Noah's Dr. appt. (2 year check). Then we desperately needed to hit the grocery store before going back to get Clayton at 12. So, needless to say, busy morning. To add one more obsticle for us to deal with, today is nasty outside - cold and snowy and windy and just a mess. Not ideal driving conditions!

Anyway, after bundling the kids up and making sure that I have all of Clayton's snow gear (I miss Vegas) we get in the car. It started right up! Yay - right? Kind of. The car started, but nothing else seemed to be working. This wouldn't normally be so bad except that Justin was the last person to drive my car and the seat (which is electric) was all the way back. I am 5 feet tall and it is insane to expect me to be able to drive like that! However, we had things to do, so I ghetto-drove all the way to Clayton's school ('ghetto-drove' - sitting so low in the seat that I can barely see over the steering wheel). When we got there, Noah was screaming and I was about ready to explode myself! We dropped Clayton off and I began to wonder how I was going to get all my stuff done.

Enter the kindness. I called my friend, Missy, in a panic and she kindly offered to let me use her car to run my errands. Her car has 4 wheel drive, so it was actually a huge bonus! But I wasn't going to be able to pick it up until after we went to the post office (the PO is between Clayton's school and her house - so it just made sense).

So Noah and I went to the post office. Since it's the holidays the line was quite long. I was worried about how Noah would do since his day didn't get off to the best start, but he was SO good!!! He played with the bells on the door and the rope partition thing. He was having a good time and not disturbing the other customers so I was content to let him play! 15 minutes later, I get to the front of the line to mail my package and the mail man GOT MAD AT ME!!!!! He told me that I shouldn't let my child play with stuff around the post office and that he could get hurt or hurt someone else. Keep in mind, I was already close to tears! At that moment though - all the other people in line behind me (which was about 8 people) CAME TO MY RESCUE!! They insisted that he was fine and no one was getting hurt and no one was going to let him get hurt either! There was even one man who told the mail man that my son was being very well behaved and I was doing my best under the circumstances and that there was no need to be rude! On my way out of the PO, these same people offered me words of kindness like, "you're doing great", "he's such a good boy", "don't listen to him, he obviously doesn't understand going places with little kids". I was so happy! These people didn't know me - they were just as cranky as I was about having to stand in line at the PO. They could have just kept their mouths shut and let the mail man get angry at me, but no - they stood up for me. On a day where nothing seemed to be going right, this was such a blessing! It seemed like such a small thing for people to do, and I'm sure they don't realize how much it meant to me, but it was something that I really needed today!

Anyway, thanks to the jolt of Christmas spirit that I unexpectedly received at the post office and Missy for letting me use her car, I had a new attitude. I was still a little grouchy, but I was able to run all of my errands and still be done in time to get Clayton! So, even though today is a crummy day, it's nice to think that there are people out there who are willing to help me (whether they know me or not). I am also really grateful that we didn't have anywhere to go this afternoon!

Here are two pictures of my kids in the snow (they're random, but Anisha likes pics - so these are for you Nish)! These were taken Sunday night and Monday morning - as you can see, it's definitely winter here!
Side note for those who are interested, Noah weighed in at 26 lbs (25th%) and I forget what he measured, but he's in the 75th% for his height. So he's kind of long and skinny. Perfectly healthy though - which is what really matters!