Day 3

Greetings readers,

So, here we are at the close of Day 3 out of... however many days I have left.

Today, my goal was met in a way entirely unexpected.  I met with R this morning, we had breakfast over at her place and we spent the morning simply hanging out.  Since she will be going to classes this semester, she wanted to get together with me at least one more time before they start this week, on Thursday.

It was quite the enjoyable morning, we watched a movie after breakfast, and just hung out and talked.  Just after lunch, she had to go to work, so I was driving back to my apartment.  The distance between her apartment and mine is almost 1 mile, so it is not far really.

On the drive back, I noticed a car that was in the far right lane, flashing it's emergency blinkers.  I pulled up behind the car to see what was the matter.  After getting out of my car, I approached the other car to find a man standing by the driver's side door, and a very young girl, perhaps around 3 or 4 years old, in the backseat.

I asked the man what the problem was, and he told me that he was driving down the road, picking his daughter up from her daycare.  He slowed down because the car in front of him was slowing down.  When he tried to accelerate the car after that, the car sputtered and died.

First off, I offered to help him push the car off of the road and onto a nearby side-street about 50 feet down.  The two of us combined managed to get the car rolling enough to where it moved into the side-street, with the man walking by the driver's side and steering the car when needed and around the turn.

Now, readers should be aware that pushing this car, a feat that, while hard, I would normally be able to do without any problems, took a lot out of me.  Even pushing it a mere 50 feet and around a corner, taxed my strength.  I do not know if this was a quirk, or if my disease is starting to show itself in that way.  Each morning for the past month, I have been doing the exercises that my doctor told I should, and I have not been noticing any changes in the strenuous activity.  But it might also be that the exercises are so minor that I would not notice anything unless I was hooked up to some machine designed to monitor those things.

Anyway, after pushing the car, and making the excuse that I was a bit out of shape as to why I was breathing so hard, I went back to my car and drove it to the side-street as well.  I went back to the man, where I had him pop the hood and then try and start the car.  It coughed and it wheezed, but it would not start.

Lacking anything better to try, I pulled my car up so that it was facing his, and we attempted to jump his battery.  Unfortunately, no such luck.  The car still would not start.  I will be the first to admit that I have very little experience with cars, so other than jumping one or changing a tire, I am pretty much useless.

The man thought about it for a while.  I offered him my backseat for both himself and his daughter, seeing as to how it was a very hot day and at least my car had working air-conditioning.  He sat in my backseat with his daughter for a few minutes, cooling off, while I stood just outside the driver's side door.

Eventually, he took out his cell phone and called a tow truck, for lack of any ideas.  He told me that I could go home, but I said that I would wait with him until the tow truck arrived.

Fast-forward to an hour later, and not only was the tow truck just then arriving, but in the last hour, the man and I had learned a bit about each other.  After all, when two people are thrown together like this and waiting, we had nothing better to do besides talk to each other.

The tow truck arrived and I waited as the tow-man put the man's car on the tow truck.  After the car was on the tow truck, I offered to take the man anywhere he wanted in town, rather than ride with the tow truck simply to the auto repair center.

The man smiled and accepted my offer.  He told the tow truck man where to take his car, and then he strapped his daughter into my backseat, before climbing into the passenger side.

I drove the two of them to their house, or at least somewhere by their house, I'm not sure if it was their house exactly.  The man smiled and thanked me profusely as he got out, collecting his daughter and setting off towards the house that I had pulled up in front of.

I went back to my apartment, full of happiness that I had helped to make someone's day a little better.

As for the plan that I alluded to yesterday, well, fortunately that plan is flexible, so I shall just save it for someday when it is needed.

Until next time,
B