We Are Community for the week of August 16th, 2021, by Joyce Steiner

 

Each  week I suggest that you Scatter Kindness.  Will depart a bit this week to tell you just how much kindness was shown me this weekend.  I have done 3rd Sunday Market in Bloomington for over 30 years.  The show is in the second generation of the Raycraft family.  I load a Caravan to the top with antiques and the things necessary to set up a booth such as tables and other display pieces.  Got to Bloomington in good time, got set up and went shopping as usual.  Since the restaurant we have eaten at for years has closed , drove around Bloomington a bit to see what I could find.  As it was getting late, decided to go back and eat at a restaurant near the hotel where I was staying.  When I drove into the restaurant parking lot, two young men immediately came over to my car and showed me there was smoke coming out of my  wheel well and that I had a brake that had overheated.  They asked questions and after my response, they began calling people they knew who could fix an automobile.  They had no luck.  They said they were sorry and suggested that Blain’s Farm and Fleet had Sunday hours and that I go into the restaurant and get dinner and allow my brakes to cool down so that I could drive the two blocks to the hotel.  Took their advice and ordered dinner and called Mike Raycraft.  While I was eating, Mike arrived.  Just knowing that I had a friend helped.  We decided to take my van to Blain’s which happened to be exactly across one street.  Parked it and left the keys and noted they opened at 9 am on Sunday.  Mike delivered me to my hotel and had me picked up Sunday morning.  At 9:15 I tried to call Blain’s but my cell phone had no service so I used Mikes phone to call Blain’s.  A lady from the corporate office answered and I explained the situation.  She said the service department was fully booked for the day but that she would see if they could somehow work my car into the schedule.  She called Mike a couple of times and he relayed messages to me.  The mechanic called and told me what needed to be done and the price.  Asked him to go ahead and do the work as could get a ride home but not a ride for an entire load of antiques plus Blain’s was highly recommended as being honest and fair.  They could have charged me most any price as I was 120 miles from home with a loaded van but they didn’t.  Later in the afternoon while I was still tending to my booth, Mike and a driver picked up my van and delivered it to the show grounds.  My niece came near the end of the show to help me pack and load.  What could have been a total disaster for me was taken care of by people I knew well, people I just met and people I never met.  What a show of caring and kindness by my fellow travelers on our planet.  I also have that angel riding on my shoulder that this did not  happen on the open highway, that I decided to eat close to the hotel, that even though smoke was bellowing out of my car, it did not catch fire and that if it had it was unloaded and not loaded full of precious cargo.

So thank you first to the two gentlemen who did not know me at all but tried their best to help.  Thanks to Mike for his caring, his time and getting me the help I needed.  And thanks to Blain’s for helping a lady in distress whom they did not know but went out of their way to help.

As Tiny Tim said “God bless us everyone”.  Remember to Scatter Kindness because you never know when you just might need that kindness shown to you.

 

Posted in Plymouth News