Kindness of Strangers

Tonight I am in Chico, California, slowly making my way through the state.

Yesterday had its challenges and I needed to be "talked off the ledge" before I even left the casino/resort. The thought of filling up with gas, propane and checking my tires felt so overwhelming. Where do these fears come from???? My inner child was in full force and it took some help from my friend Wren to ease her out and call in some masculine inner guidance.

Drove Minnie less than one mile to the gigantic casino truck stop where the first stage was to fill up with gas. Since I was still in Oregon, didn't need to fill it myself and got instructions for the next stop, which was to fill up my propane tank. Drove around the lot to the next stage which was for propane. Proudly backed up Winnie and turned her around so the propane tank was properly positioned. Yea! Had to use the phone to call someone to come fill the tank, felt like I waited a long time so called again, and finally an older gentleman came trudging across the lot to fill the tank. Turns out he was the manager of the truck stop and since they were short handed, he was helping with the service. Don't know what his age was, maybe in his 60s, but you could tell his life had not been easy. Blood shot eyes, bad knees from old football injuries, getting by the best he could with the life he was living. He filled my tank, another long trek back to run my card, and then another slow walk back to return my card. As I said, this truck stop was enormous!, and he was not moving quickly:).

Next stop was to check the air in my tires so he directed me to the next area I needed to drive to and said if no one was there to help, to use the phone to call for assistance. Felt like the tire service was out in the middle of nowhere, and there was no one even remotely near to ask for any help. Well, maybe I can do this myself! Because the stems on the front tires were completely inaccessible, you have to pop off the hubcaps to get to them. I popped the front hubcap, checked the air, looked good, but could not get the hubcap back on, hurt my hand, got my hands dirty, wah, wah, wah. Okay, I give, I called for help. And who should I see walking from a far way away, but the manager. Must have been his lucky day:).

This wonderful man spent another 30-45 minutes, down on his re-assembled knees, checking the tire air pressure, filling the tires with air and even getting longer stems to put on all the tires to make it easier in the future. And, he didn't charge me a dime. Such kindness from a complete stranger who went out of his way to make my world a little easier on a day that had begun with me doubting the divinity that would show up. I wanted to hug him when it was all over, but wasn't sure if that was quite appropriate. So I showered as much love and light as I could through me, to him, and it felt good and perfect.