Grateful

Tonight I feel completely grateful, which is not something that I thought I would feel at the end of the day today.  My day started at 5:40am when my alarm went off.  I got to work at about 6:55am with the plan that I would be working a longer day, but would be going home around 6pm.  Well, things kept piling up and as I am leaving town, I have to get a lot of stuff done before I leave.  I ended up leaving work at about 7:45pm.  As I started to drive down the road, I thought it felt a little rough.  But then I thought about how I live in Cleveland and all the roads are rough.  I got on the highway and was talking to Josh on the phone.  I told him that I think I might have a flat tire.  He asked how I didn't know if I had one or not.  :)  I thought I was fine, but a little further down the road, I thought I better stop and check.  Sure enough, my back passenger tire was completely flat.  Oh great...here I am again with a flat tire and Josh out of town.  I called Josh back and he said he was going to try to call a few people to see if they could come change it.  With a lot of our friends being out of town for the holidays, I wasn't sure that he would be able to get ahold of anyone.  I told him that I would try to change it myself, but wasn't sure that I would be able to see well enough as there were no city lights where I had stopped. 

Luckily, I found a little flashlight in our glove compartment.  I cleaned out my trunk, got the spare tire out and the jack.  I struggled a little trying to lift the car up with the crappy jack I have.  I looked something like this...but it was dark and COLD and wet.

Just as I was starting to try to get the lug nuts off (and they were on TIGHT), a pickup truck pulled up behind me. A woman about my mother's age, got out and asked if I needed some help.  I told her that I had a flat tire and yes, I did need help.  She then motioned for her son and husband to come and help.  They changed my tire for me...I would have been stuck there for quite some time trying to do it on my own.  I felt truly blessed that they had stopped.  The mom told me that as they drove by, their son said "Hey, I think that was a girl.  We should stop."  He seemed a little embarrassed as he said "well, it's different if it's a girl."   I laughed and said I totally understand.  So they turned around and came back to help.  The mom said something to the effect that she got out first so I wasn't scared by a man approaching me on the side of a dark highway.  They seemed like such a nice family and I'm so grateful they stopped to help.  It's good to know that there are still those nice people out there.  Tonight wasn't the best of nights either; it was cold, the ground was wet and it was completely dark and really foggy, but they still stopped and helped anyway.  It reminds me how much our Heavenly Father looks after us at all times.  I know that I am truly blessed and I know that he sent this nice family out to help me in my time of need.  It was a great experience and a great reminder that there are good people out in the world still and that our Heavenly Father is continuously watching over us.  I feel so grateful for this family, for the way they approached me, for changing my tire and for their kindness.  I hope that next time Josh wants to stop and help someone, I won't complain and will be happy to help them in their time of need.  Tonight, I am truly grateful for this family that took 20 minutes out of their evening to help me.  I just hope that next time I get a flat tire, Josh will be in town :)  Good night everyone!