Adventures in the Country...

As some of my readers know, my work takes me all over Northwest Ohio. A large majority of my clients reside in the boondocks in the country. SO, I spend a great deal of time in a car provided to me by my company. A nice perk, no?

Well, for the first time in my career with my wonderful company, my car broke down. And I don't just mean it stopped running. There was a loud "POP" and then my motor sounded like one my grandpa's antique tractors idling. Not good.

Of course, this didn't happen anywhere near civilization. This happened smack dab in the boondocks middle of nowhere in God's country.

SO, I limp to a little drive that crossed a ditch into a bean field. The first call I made was to my boss. The second call? AAA, of course. Using my GPS, I was able to tell her exactly, to the mile, where I was, on said country road.

As I finished up with the AAA chickie, a man pulled up in a red pickup behind me, blocking my get-away. My first thought? Mass farming serial murderer, about to claim another victim and dump my body in the very, very deep, overgrown ditch. Fantastic.

As visions of my bloated, decomposing body being picked away by vultures, racoons and opposums flashed thru my sick and twisted mind (I've clearly been watching too many CSI, NCIS, Law & Order, Mentalist, Numbers, etc crime-type shows, eh?), he asked me what the trouble seemed to be.

I introduced myself, and found out he was the owner of the farm, about a 1/4 mile from where I sat. His name was David W. He saw this damsel..no perfectly able... clueless business girl, teetering on a rocky drive in high heels and being the good country man that he was, came over to rescue assist me.

He had me start my car, and as soon as I turned the ignition, shouted at me to stop. Being the intellegent man that he was, he knew exactly what the trouble was. One of my spark plugs had somehow worked itself loose! Apparently, this is NOT supposed to happen. He hopped in his truck, drove over to his farm, grab some tools and a new plug and came right back over!

Unfortuntately, the story doesn't end there. He couldn't get the plug to screw in, and when he checked the other plugs, they were all loose, too-- in a way that they were not supposed to be!

SO, I was stuck waiting for AAA. I spent two hours waiting. I read. I wrote notes for this blog. I make calls cancelling all of my appointments between home and Lima for the day. UGH!

Then, the towing service, Wright Automotive called. They couldn't find me. My good friends at AAA apparently didn't listen very well to my directions, and the tow truck was lost finding me. Now, I was on a country road, but it wasn't a deserted road-- it was a pretty busy North-South route. And my car is a billboard-type advertisement, so this shouldn't have been too difficult.

After finally getting the driver, Jeremy, guided to me and my disabled vehicle, he hooked it up and we were off. He took me to the mechanic of my choice and the mechanic took me over to the office where my mom works so I could steal her form of transportation for the day.

Anyway. That was my adventure for the day.

At this point, I'm currently waiting for word that my car is all better.

While sitting in my sweltering car today, waiting 2 hours for the wayward tow truck to find his way to my sputtering little vehicle, I had plenty of time to think about my encounter with David W.

He didn't have to take time out of his busy day to drive over to see what was going on. He didn't have to go back to his house and get tools and the PART to fix my car. He could have ignored me. He could have stopped out of curiousity, heard I'd already called AAA and went on his merry way. But he didn't. He stopped.

I thought about how many times I've passed by stranded vehicles or ignored a possible person in need before. How often have I passed up an opportunity to offer my assistance to someone.

Who have you stopped to help today? Is there a senior neighbor, maybe shut-in without family nearby to visit or help them out? Is there a volunteer organization that might need some assistance? Can you donate something to a shelter or food bank?

David W. is a fine example of what is right with the world. We hear so much about what is wrong, that sometimes, we need to stop and look at what is right. And we need to take a good look at ourselves and our actions, and decide what we can do to continue making this country and world a better place, too.

Thanks You, David. Thank you for making my world a better place. Thank you for giving me a little more faith in people, and the goodness that resides within them!