Kindness

 

The kindness of strangers is always touching to me. On Sunday I was waiting for Rich and Thom to catch up to me at the Family Dollar store parking lot in Texhoma, OK. They had a difficult ride from Dalhart with strong headwinds, which is why they finished only 60+ miles. As they were loading their bikes on the car a young woman with long shiny hair came to my open car door, presented a long-stemmed red rose and said, "Happy Mother's Day." I asked if there was a charge (cynical me) and she just smiled and shook her head no.

That evening after we had settled in to our hotel in Liberal, KS, I decided to wash some clothes. Rich had already done his riding clothes. After my washing machine cycle was done, I found the dryer filled with clothes from a previous customer. I waited about 20 minutes and then asked the hotel manager for advice about removing someone else's clothing from the dryer. "Best not touch someone else's stuff," he said. So he called a guest room of someone he noticed using the laundry earlier (turned out to be Thom), but the clothes didn't belong to Thom. We waited a bit more, then the manager offered the dryer behind his office that staff use. I happily dried my clothes there.

I guess I owe two kindnesses to strangers. I'll pay it forward.

CK