Someday We'll Find It, The Rainbow Connection. The Lovers, the Dreamers and Me

Earlier today I was riding my bike to the theater to see Despicable Me. I was running late because I hung around the house too long doing important things like playing Mario Kart and emptying the dishwasher. As I rode past an older woman walking an elderly dog, she asked if I could stop and help her. I was frustrated because I was already late, but I stopped to see what she needed. She explained that she was visiting her son and had taken her dog out for a walk and now couldn't find her way back. She forget to bring her phone. I offered her the use of mine, but she didn't know his phone number. She couldn't remember the address. The temperature was almost triple digits, heat was radiating up from the asphalt street and concrete sidewalks, and the dog was panting heavily and beginning to show signs of distress. I was blazingly hot and I'm sure the woman was as well.

She kept telling me what she thought the address was and then telling me where she thought they had been on their walk but those two things were miles apart and as she hadn't been gone long, it was unlikely he lived where she said she thought he did. We finally sorted out what she thought his address was. She was on the right street, just a few blocks away. So I pointed her in the right direction and rode rapidly away, now trying to make up even more time, hot and frustrated with the delay, and telling myself I'd done all I could to help her.

Yet as I rode past the address she gave, I decided to stop and make sure it was the right one. I asked the man who answered my knock if his mother was visiting. It seemed unlikely as he was Asian and she was caucasian but of course families come in all varieties. He said his mother wasn't visiting and he didn't have anyone staying with him and I realized the woman was walking to the wrong address and still would have no idea where she was supposed to be.
So I turned around thinking that at least I could ride home, get my car and some water for her and her dog, and drive them around looking at all the possible combinations of addresses she thought were correct until she recognized his place. When I rode back past her, I stopped and told her that I'd checked the address on my way by and it was wrong. I asked if her son was listed with directory services and she said she thought he was. So I looked up his address on my phone (which I hadn't thought to do initially). She had transposed the last two digits and the house was only a few houses away from the first address she had given me. I went along beside her to make sure she got safely back to her son's house. As we walked we exchanged the usually social pleasantries and she repeatedly thanked me for my help and blessed me for my kindness.

After the encounter, I left feeling like the day was a little brighter and the world was a slightly better place. It had nothing to do with my helping her. If anything I felt ashamed that I hadn't cheerfully done more to help her to begin with. I performed a wedding ceremony last night and part of my ceremony talks about doing things for each other in a spirit of joy and love, not of duty and sacrifice and those words kept coming to mind. Why had I been so annoyed to be stopped to help someone in need? Nothing that important about missing a movie that would show five more times that day and seven times the next day. Instead of seeing the movie as scheduled I met Nancy from Bellevue, Washington who will always be part of my memories and therefore a part of me and I'm sure Reddirtgirl from Salt Lake City, Utah will always be part of her. And I was feeling happy and positive because I had experienced one of those countless, fleeting human connections that enrich our lives, or communities, our world.