Sunday, SUNDAY, Sunday… I Learned There Are Still Good People Out There

This past Sunday started off frantic but wonderful. The hubs and I were getting the kids dressed and properly groomed for a picture session at Portrait Innovations. It was hectic trying to get everyone put together, fed, changed and in the car for a 20 minute drive from our side of Raleigh to Cary.. and to actually be punctual. We seemed to leave at the perfect time.

You won’t be surprised that there’s nothing I love more than a beautifully composed photograph. And for the “mall”- type studio chains, Portrait Innovations has always been my fave.

Fast forward… we get the pictures taken, grab lunch while they were getting printed and then went back to pick them up before heading back home to continue with our lazy Sunday.

I proudly clutched the envelope of pictures in my hands as I hopped back in my hubby’s car to start looking through them, mentally checking off who’s going to get which pose, like one of these beauties:

As I was looking through the pictures, Daddy Roo starts saying the car didn’t feel right.

It started shaking a bit… and just as we merged onto the highway it got worse.

“Pull over right here while we still have a shoulder!” I told him with a hint of panic in my voice. I sure as hell didn’t want to be merging onto highway traffic with two kids in a car and take the risk that the car dies five seconds down the road.

He turned the car off and we just kinda sat there. We weren’t sure exactly WHAT to do. We didn’t have AAA so Daddy Roo called our insurance company and they rattled off a few towing companies.

The BIGGER issue was how to get 2 adults and 2 kids with car seats from point A to point B.

I started running through people in my head. H? Out of town. L? Camping. T? She didn’t answer. And so I did what any social media addicted, oversharing person would do…

I posted that we were stranded.

Good people, part one…

Within seconds a fellow mom came to the rescue, becoming the first person in the “wow- people ARE still good” moments of the day. Donna and I had met before a few times in real life. And she’s really good friends with my neighbor. But I honestly don’t know her well enough that I’d know things like her favorite color of Skittles or her first childhood pet.

I knew she was pretty awesome though. I just didn’t know she was THIS awesome. In minutes, she sent me her phone number, I called her and she and her daughter were on their merry way to selflessly come rescue us.

Good people, part two…

The car was dang hot so we unstrapped the kids and stood there on the side of the flippin’ road. We blocked Big Roo in between the open car door and us… I mean, you really just can’t take any chances when cars zoom past 65 MPH. Poor Little Roo hadn’t eaten in a few hours so I know he was getting hungry. His face was flushed from the heat but he remained calm as I held both him and an umbrella over our heads.

It wasn’t raining… it was sunny with a heat index of about 99.

As we stood there, all dressed up in the blazing sun, people would pull over to see if we needed help. Not one car, not two cars but all-in-all we had about EIGHT cars stop to check on us. I was really impressed since it wasn’t exactly the safest place to pull off the road.

But kindness and concern for a young family reigned. And I was grateful.

Good people, part three…

The tow truck arrived and I quickly forgot all the stereotypes about rude tow truck guys. This guy was AWESOME.

The first thing he did was tell Daddy Roo to bring the kids and I over to sit in his air-conditioned tow truck while Daddy Roo filled out the paperwork. We shuffled alongside the truck and climbed in. He gave Big Roo some business cards because they had “cool trucks” on them.

Big Roo’s face lit up when I told him the tow truck we were in was JUST LIKE MATER.

Donna arrived shortly thereafter and they installed the car seats in her car for the ride home.

All the while, the Roos and I stayed cool in the truck. Knowing Little Roo was hungry, I took it upon myself to nurse the baby from the front seat. I bet you can’t say you’ve ever done THAT (except you Brittany).

Meanwhile, Daddy Roo walked over and brought us some bottles of water in a plastic bag.

“Where did these come from?” I asked.

He said, “A couple saw us on the side of the road and noticed we had young kids with us. They went and bought us some waters and dropped them off.”

All together now… awwwwww.

It’s All Good (Well, Except for the Pocketbooks. Audis are Expensive to Fix.)

During the course of events that day, I thought of the show What Would You Do? While they deal more with ethical scenarios, the premise is the same. What would you do if you saw someone who was in distress, hurt, frightened or worse?

Apparently around Raleigh, NC, we’ve got good people.

Tagged as: car trouble, did i mention stranded, good people, stranded