This is a line from a delightful book that my mom read us Vance kids when we were little. My parents raised us to like people, no matter how different or unfriendly they may be. I have believed this my whole life that people are good and well meaning more often than not and have rarely been let down. Until 2008. In 2008 we Utah Siegs seemed to be taken advantage of every swindler in Provo. Try as I might, I couldn't help but lose a little of this idealistic view of people. They DID let me down! However, last week I had a happy little reminder.
Eighteen months ago Mason was born. To celebrate, we bought a jogging stroller combo and been using it ever since. I love this stroller. It is narrow enough to run any errand in any store, but also hearty enough to go wherever we outdoorsy Siegs wish to venture. Unfortunately, our beloved stroller had a very serious flaw. It would shake like the dickens if we even started to canter! I contacted the manufacturer but they wouldn't do anything to help us (it was 2008 mind you). Because we are cheap, and I really DO like every other aspect of the stroller, we have continued to rattle and wiggle our way around town. Until two weeks ago.
Mason and I were jogging a nearby street when we came upon a shaggy man dressed in a West Coast Choppers shirt, accompanied by his massive pit bull (was I back on Stubbs? This was way too familiar). We said hi as we rattled on past. On the way home, we spotted him out front of his home again. This time, however, he stopped us.
"Is there something wrong with your stroller?" he asked. "Would you mind if I had a look at it? I would hate to have the wheel come off and have your little guy get hurt." In the next five minutes, he ran back and forth from his garage a couple times, drilled a whole in our metal frame, screwed in a new screw, almost started crying as he told us a story about his dog, and FIXED our stroller! Wonder of wonders!!!! No more shaking! Now it runs as smooth as a Cadillac (well, I guess a broken down Cadillac, as I still have to push it). People truly are wonderful. Even when they look scruffy and mean, they so often surprise you. I really do like people.
5 comments:
This explains why you have always been such a social butterfly... I wish I ran into more people like your friendly neighbor. Just the other day I told Matt, "I hate people - let's move to the middle of nowhere." Maybe it's California or maybe it's just that I haven't met very nice people lately. It's great to here that someone out there is nice, friendly, and helpful.
I loved this post. Thanks for making me smile!
I love this post too! You're such a wonderful person and example! I love you!
You are ridiculously cute.
Oh man what a fun story. We had a similar thing happen that I am now going to write on my blog! We love people too!
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