The thing I recall is being stranded on a lonely mountain road, with a flat tire, headed home from Pennsic one year. Pam and I were headed south through the mountains to Tennessee, with an overpacked car and two kids.
I discovered that we had no lug wrench in the car we'd bought just before going to war. I was out on the shoulder, in pitch dark, except for the headlights of the very occasional car, with a storm blowing in. I was literally screaming curses at the heavens. Stupid, yes, but I was young, and my family was at risk. Hold it against me if you wish.
A pickup truck pulled over onto the shoulder. It was a guy who, it turns out, worked at a nearby garage, which had just closed for the night. He left, went back into the closed garage, got one of those four-way lug wrenches that they had lying around from a junker, came back, and *gave* it to us, after helping me.
My car battery died coming home from work one night. A guy stopped and jumped my car for me. This happened just after War one year and I happened to have some wine in my car, so I gave him a bottle for helping me.
Given me a hug when I was young and stupid and fell asleep at the wheel, woke up staring at the ass end of a flatbed, went off the road and hit a reflector, whacking the passenger side mirror off my mom's car. He pulled over to make sure I was okay, and gave me a hug when I said I was, but just shaky.
When I spun out on 95 in a snowstorm and got stuck in the median I had four different people stop to make sure I was ok before the cops and the tow truck arrived. It was a nice reminder that there are decent human beings in the world.
My car had broken down on the way to an event. It was the first time I had to deal with car issues after becoming single again - effectively the first time I was the one who had to deal with the car issues. I had gotten as far as pulling off the highway, and determining that nobody was home at the only house in sight. I was starting to spiral down into my brain shutting down out of panic of the unknown. Seriously, when under severe stress, I can wander and babble and stare into space and do absolutely nothing for serious chunks of time. Not an effective defense mechanism at all. It's the mental equivalent of biting your lip, and then having it swell up so you bite it again. (Needless to say, I've worked real hard on overcoming that programming
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I discovered that we had no lug wrench in the car we'd bought just before going to war. I was out on the shoulder, in pitch dark, except for the headlights of the very occasional car, with a storm blowing in. I was literally screaming curses at the heavens. Stupid, yes, but I was young, and my family was at risk. Hold it against me if you wish.
A pickup truck pulled over onto the shoulder. It was a guy who, it turns out, worked at a nearby garage, which had just closed for the night. He left, went back into the closed garage, got one of those four-way lug wrenches that they had lying around from a junker, came back, and *gave* it to us, after helping me.
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This happened just after War one year and I happened to have some wine in my car, so I gave him a bottle for helping me.
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