11/27/2018

In honor of #givingTuesday I’m going to share a gracious act that complete strangers did for me this past summer.

We moved from Tacoma to Spokane in July and we have an electric car. (insert small dilemma)

In order to make the 5hr trip, I would have to stop every 60 miles to charge it.

I mapped out the quick charge locations and the slow charge (110V) was packed for emergencies- BUT, that one takes 10+ hours to FULLY charge- so if that was the case- I was sleeping somewhere.

Towards the end of the trip, everything was going great-as long as I didn’t turn on the heat, the wind was with me, and the headlights weren’t in use (which wasn’t the case) so- I was screwed.

With 9 miles left, the ONLY thing between me and the next charging station was a rest stop- & it was already 9pm.

“Great!”- I thought.

“I’ll just plug in there and sleep in the back of the car.”

(everything sounds better in my head, than when I’m actually DOING it)

With a pollyanna bounce, I grabbed the extension cord- plugged in and saw it.

A sign that warns me about human trafficking.

Panic began to overwhelm me as my attitude shifted to anxiety.

The tow company couldn’t make it out for another 3 hours and after contemplating sleeping on the roof to avoid getting assaulted, an older man and his wife approached me- asking if I was okay.

I told them the story and they insisted on waiting with me until the tow truck arrived.

It was one of the first times in my life that I didn’t argue with another person about them being inconvenienced because I was scared.

Rick and Nancy waited with me for 3 hours that night.

3 HOURS.

What they thought was a ‘pee break’ turned into a three hour stop with NO benefit to them. Parents to 5 daughters-they hoped anyone else would do the same for their girls. Chances are- I will never see Rick and Nancy again in my life- (and I lost their contact info b/c my phone restored) but I will NEVER forget what they did for me that night. .

Complete strangers- making sure that a scared 32 year felt less alone that night. (also if you know a Rick and Nancy from Coeur d’alene, can you tell them I said Thank you?)

-you can now make fun of me for driving an electric car