August 20 - Rocking and Rolling

Day 231 of a year of Kindness

Today’s kindness happened yesterday and it took me 24 hours to stop laughing about it.

Before I had surgery, I bought a little outside gazebo tent because I thought at some point, I would need a change of scenery. I didn’t use it until this week. In fact, at one point, the gazebo blew away, which felt on point. But the weather cooled down and I scootered to my gazebo. A couple of hours later, my 87-year-old mother decided to drive her van across the lawn for a gazebo visit. She uses a cane so thought it more efficient to drive directly to my temporary outdoor office. 

Unfortunately, she forgot about the enormous rock on the lawn and ran over it. Well, she ran halfway over it because the van got stuck and kind of teetered on the rock. Mom grabbed her cane and carefully lowered herself to the ground. I leaned on my scooter to see what was happening. It didn’t look good. We called AAA. 

The tow truck driver arrived and took a good long look at my mother’s van. He tried pushing and pulling it. Then a neighbor came over and peered under the van. Then my friend Amy stopped by. My mother got a cup of coffee and joined Amy and I on the porch while we spent an hour watching two men try and move a van off a rock. It was the most riveting thing I have seen in a weeks.

When the van finally bounced off the rock, we clapped loudly. The van wasn’t damaged and everyone felt victorious. My mother gave Amy $20 to give to the tow truck driver. Amy had such a good time that she added another $20 to the tip. We also thanked the very helpful neighbor.

Sometimes we make mistakes and need the kindness of friends, neighbors and AAA to pull us out from between a rock and a hard place.

Science of Kindness: Research shows that it is always best to try to turn lemons into lemonade when you can. #kindness #kindnessmatters #kindnessisfree #AAA #gazebolife