It was a 20-mile round-trip. Traffic came to a crawl at places and some cars were sliding all over the place. I drove as carefully as I could and spun a little up the lane as I finally got to my parking space. I was not enthusiastic about trying to find a person to snowplow the lane; we’re on an economic budget crunch like a lot of other people.
The next morning I went out and started shoveling five or six inches of snow off the deck and the pavement. I took a shovel down to the mailbox by the road and started shoveling there to let the mailman get to the mailbox. I marked off a section that I wanted to shovel away.
I called a friend to see if he was plowing snow this year . . . he wasn’t. Several pickups with snowplows come down the road. It gave me an idea.
Soon a vehicle with a snowplow came up the road and, on an impulse, I flagged him down. I asked him if he was plowing snow around here. How much he charged for plowing. He didn’t say anything so I said, “It doesn’t matter.” I was just glad if someone could plow our lane. He saw what I had marked off and offered to finish it. He then noticed the lane wasn’t plowed and offered to do that too.
The lane has a curve in it and the layout wasn’t obvious at places. He told me to get into the truck to direct him where he should go. He took my shovel and put it into his truck.
He plowed up to the house and then I directed him around to the back of the house where there is another parking space. Then he offered to plow the parking space where my van was parked right by the house. I moved my Dodge Grand Caravan SXT and he plowed the space which is big enough for two vehicles.
Lucy took this picture as he was clearing my parking space.
I got out of my van and headed toward the house to get my checkbook. He called out, asking if I needed anything else done.
I replied, “No, but I want to give you a check.”
He answered by saying, “Merry Christmas . . . Happy New Year,” and took off. I never even found out his name.
Well, he and I had forgotten that he still had my snow shovel in the truck but I reasoned that it was a small token of payment for his generosity. But I had a feeling that I would see that snow shovel again.
Since we were not snowbound anymore Lucy said there was the meal at the Senior Center in town, and they could be serving right now. I could get a meal and bring one back for her, and she gave me a container. She also gave me a larger container of fresh-baked cookies to give to them.
When I arrived there, I found out from Mary, who was in charge, that there would be no meal since whoever caters it had a problem—probably weather related—and was closed. They hadn’t gotten anything from the bakery either. (They play Bingo and other games so there were people there for those activities.)
I gave her the cookies and said she can give the container back on Monday. We have meals there twice a week. Subway has some nice sandwiches and I bought a foot-long Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki sandwich for $5 to take home (or was it 11 inches?--I didn't check). I did not want to go home empty-handed.
I parked the van in the newly plowed parking space and then noticed as I walked toward the house that the shovel was back on the deck.
Before we devoured the sandwich, I prayed a special prayer for blessing on the man who so generously gave us assistance.
Now to pay it forward someday, somewhere, somehow.
