Chivalry Isn't Dead

  Our day yesterday went a little differently than expected but left me feeling grateful for the community that we live in and grateful that chivalry is not dead - at least not around here. I thought it would be fun to share the story with you....

  After church the girls and I along with my niece Heidi headed to Menards to pick up some things we needed. (Ken had gone to his office and the boys were spending the afternoon with my brother.) In the store we quickly found the gloves that I needed and then headed back to get the mortar that I needed to finish up my rock project. When we were back at the mortar the younger girls noticed a man from our church a little ways off and went over to say "Hi", meanwhile Mara and I started to team lift the 80 lb bags of mortar into the cart. I can lift them by myself but going down into something or up from something can be challenging and it just seemed safer to work on it together. Darrell saw what we were doing and quickly came over to finish loading them for us. So nice. Then when he was done with that an elderly man came by and wondered if he could help him put something heavy into his cart too.

  We then went and checked out and headed to the van. Mara and I figured that we would do the team lifting again but Darrell happened to be parked near us and spotted us again and came over to help unload the cart too. Then he headed back to his car.

  After unloading everything I noticed that the back of the van was really sinking especially on the side where the mortar was. Well that kind of made sense but it seemed a little extreme as I had only gotten a few bags and I have had far more in there before. But I decided I should probably rearrange things anyway. So I did that but it still didn't help the situation. Then I thought I should probably check out the tire. Oh dear! The tire was flat. Not just low but really flat. I could see a gas station (with air) from where we were parked but it didn't seem like a good idea to drive on that flat of a tire even that far.

  So changing a tire seemed like the next course of action after we unloaded all the weight in the back of the van which Mara and I did. I have changed tires before (not that often, but Jonathan and I had worked together last summer to do one on the van so I kind of knew how the van situation worked) and so I wasn't that worried about getting the job done. So I proceeded to get everything out and figured out. At first I wasn't sure I knew how to work the jack but I got that figured out but then wasn't quite sure where to actually put the jack. I was studying on that when the guy parked next to me asked if I would like some help. I said that I would probably be fine but if he would be willing to point out where the jack should go I would appreciate it. He did that (he wasn't so sure at first either as newer vehicles seem to have a lot more plastic) but then he was like "Are you sure you don't want more help?". I said - "Well if you really want to...."

  So this young guy who I didn't know plopped down on the ground and got to work at jacking up the van and changing my tire.

   Meanwhile another guy came over to check on us but when he saw that we were being assisted went on his way. Then 2 different families that we knew came by - one of them stopping to make sure everything was going fine. And then Darrell and family came driving by again too. Though we already had help it was so nice to live in a community of this size where if I really needed assistance I could have had it in abundance.

  When the guy was done jacking it up (that was the part that took the most time) and was actually changing the tire another guy drove up nearby and saw that we were using one of those little wrenches that come with the van and offered the loan of his nice X shaped wrench instead. So we graciously accepted.

  Anyway the young guy finished up the job and I thanked him and I did offer him some money (I debated on doing that - not that I didn't appreciate it but somehow offering money somehow seems to cheapen the good deed that he did - does that make sense? I am very torn on what is the right thing to do in that case) anyway - he declined my offer of money but accepted my thanks and gave me advice to go make sure the spare had plenty of air in it before going much farther.

   Anyway what could have been an unpleasant experience was instead one that left me with a very grateful feeling of how kind most people are and how blessed I am to live in a place where that is so. Chivalry is indeed not dead - I was reminded of that several times that day. I imagine seeing four females dressed in skirts may have made them more aware of us possibly needing help but I think that they would have been gentlemen even if we would have been in work clothes.

  Have you had experiences that have reminded you that chivalry isn't dead?

 That evening when Jonathan got home his comment was - "Why did you have to have a flat tire when I wasn't there to help you!?" He would have enjoyed the whole process and I would have appreciated having him like I did last summer. I do hope that we can train our sons to be ready and willing to help others too.