Snow Day

January 31st was an unexpected snow day. I was driving home and had a set of lights on a hill. Just a little hill and I thought I would be ok getting started again. I was. The person in the small Ford in front of me wasn't. I backed up as much as I could but two to three cars had accumulated behind me. She tried and tried. I had my four-year-old in the car and wasn't sure what to do to help but I felt for her. This could have easily been me. Then a car pulls up the in outside lane. We were all in the left lane because just the other side of the lights was another car getting assistance out of a snow bank and the right lane wasn't being used. Up drives a white four door car and two fellas in their early 20's jump out, blocking that lane, push this poor women through the lights and on her way. I was grinning from ear to ear and their love and kindness. As they jumped back in the car I think I spotted name tags on their black coats. I highly suspect they were LDS. Good job boys!

Losing things in the snow

Many years ago I went for a walk around Long Pond. When I was almost back to my car, after a 45 minute walk, I realized I had lost one of the traction cleats for one of my boots. My heart sunk. I didn't have time to back track around the length of the pond again and it was snowing. As I went to my car, there was a note stuck under my windshield wiper blade. It said, "If you've lost a yaktrax, it's just past the building on the left on the path". My heart leapt! How kind for a stranger to take a moment and find a pen and paper and let me know.

Today I went for a ski in the same area. I had taken off my hat and stuffed it in my pocket. But not well enough, I discovered, as I rounded a corner and was skiing into the wind again. As I made my way back to the previous loop where I had taken it off, there it was, hanging on a tree branch. It reminded me of the small gesture of a stranger many years before and my thought to collect stories such as these to remember the goodness we each have in us.