One of the stories from the Mayberry series was about the time a businessman ended up stranded in Mayberry on a Sunday with car trouble. The gentleman was incredibly frustrated that he was unable to have his car repaired due to it being a Sunday. "It's a day of rest and family," he was told. The gentleman was so angry that he refused to have dinner with the Taylor's, or to relax and just slow down... near the end of the episode, the sheriff had finally managed to get the man to sit down on the porch with Aunt B, Opie, and himself... actually relaxing and accepting his Sunday fate... when Goober pulled up unexpectedly with his car, explaining that it was simply a clogged fuel pump, and that there was no charge. The gentleman was quite shocked when he was told that Mayberry wasn't going to charge a guest in their town for something so trivial... I absolutely adore the idea and concept of actually taking a day off and spending it in a fully relaxing environment of family and friends, known or new... such a delightful idea, isn't it?
On the other hand, the tale reminded me of a summer several years ago when we, as a family, drove to Colorado. It wasn't a vacation or pleasure trip, it was to pick up a vehicle we purchased on eBay. You could realistically conclude that it was the equivalent of a business trip. Drive up, pick car up, drive home. That was the list...
Are you waiting for the wrench? You know there's one being thrown in the works, don't you? You're right... there's a wrench...
It was around 10pm on Saturday night... July 3rd... somewhere so deep in Colorado that there were no city lights to mar the beauty or brightness of the stars and the moon glowing in the sky. The glow was bright enough that I didn't immediately notice the dimming of the headlights. I thought it was just me, quite honestly. I checked the gauges on the dashboard, though, and found that that it was NOT just me (can you say a major "UHOH!"?).
The alternator was NOT functioning properly... we were in trouble. I found myself adding to my little prayer that I'd been sending up over the course of the trip. It expanded from "Please keep us safe and get us back to our home as uneventfully as possible" - to - "and please don't leave us stranded out here in the middle of nowhere."
The new addition ran through my mind over and over as the lights of the suburban were fading... and the relief that I felt as we started seeing the glow of artificial lights over a hill ahead of us was absolutely huge... the prayer changed again, requesting His help in allowing us to MAKE IT to those lights, and please let there be help when we arrive...
We did make it there... and in the dark, it was less of a town, and more of a freeway crossover which happened to contain a pair of gas stations. We saw a constable's car at one of the stations, so Andrew left me in the truck with the kids, and walked across the street to that station. The officer didn't have any answers, but the woman behind the counter volunteered to call the man who runs the Co-Op in town. (There really WAS a tiny bit of a town there... Hooray!). The nice fella from the Co-Op left his wife and television to come and check on us. He had us follow him to the garage (2 blocks up, 1 block over), where he started checking out the suburban, and came to the same conclusion we'd already arrived at. The alternator was no longer among the functional.
To our surprise, things really ARE done differently in small towns... the first thing he tried was to go rob the truck parked over at Larry's house... Larry has apparently been trying to sell it, but it's just sitting there, and it might be compatible, so he went to check it out. He came back and reported that it had apparently been robbed already, because there was no alternator in it anymore... Do you wonder if anyone has told Larry? I sure hope so.... He tried calling the fella who runs the junkyard, but it was a Saturday night, and his reputation speaking on his behalf, very likely far enough into a case of beer that his phone was probably not going to be answered. He tried calling the fella who was in charge of Auto Parts Co-Op, but didn't get an answer there, either.
After trying all of those avenues, at that hour of the night, he pointed out the direction of the hotel, and even offered to let us come freshen up at his house if we wanted... we declined, and decided to sleep in the vehicles for the night. Realistically, we probably needed the sleep... not that we'd have admitted to that if we were still out on the road and driving . That nice man was back up at the Garage at 7am on Sunday morning... bearing in mind that it's now also July 4th. He was able to get the Auto-Part Co-Op manager to come and unlock his shop to get us a new alternator, which he proceeded to install for us, even as he issued an invitation to stay for breakfast and the parade. We politely declined the invitation so that we could get back out on the road, but it was totally sweet of him to offer!
Of course, the pseudo-Mayberry that we were in did not offer to comp the repairs, but we were thrilled to have gotten the repairs and not been stranded until Monday, so we're okay with not keeping to the Mayberry story :-)
We were back on the road and cruising along, somewhere in Oklahoma I think? When we spotted two ladies with a little girl trying to change the tire on their car. Andrew and I looked at each other, took the next freeway exit, took the u-turn and went back the other way... u-turned again so that we could come up and check on them again... there was no one there helping them, so we stopped. The Mayberry-ism was still with us, and we knew we needed to "pay it forward," so Andrew was able to change their tire, while I pulled out a bottle of water and some crackers for their hungry 2 year old little girl... the ladies were so completely thankful that we stopped, and we were fully aware of the time lost... but we knew that we couldn't just leave them there. We'd already had our own rescue the night before, so it was our turn to come to the rescue for someone else...
Anyhow... that feeling of accomplishment and sharing is something that we thrive on, and we always look for opportunities to help others. It's just part of who we are... with or without Mayberry. We try to pass on the concept of helping others, and hope that the lives we touch continue on in the endeavor to help more and more people. I know we can't truly change the world, but if we at least make a tiny difference to someone, and it passes on, then maybe it'll eventually become a big difference. You never know whose life you might change by doing something just for them, with no other goal or plan in mind...
I probably shouldn't write this late at night... hopefully this turned out better than what my brain is currently processing :-) I'm heading to bed. Good night, all!
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