The Kindness of Strangers....

Artichokes are beautiful when one waits too long to pick them from the garden

I called my Mom last night just to chat, and she told me a story that at first made my heart skip a beat before it made it swell. My Mom at 84 is very self sufficient, lives on her own....but still...I worry. When she told me she had had a fall, my first thought was if she was seriously injured....broken bones, concussion. As she went on to tell me what happened, my panicky feeling went away. She had slipped on some gravel in the planter bed between the sidewalk and the curb as she was walking to a doctors appointment. She ended up falling into the street gutter. (That is when my heart skipped and my breath caught.) But she said a boy about 17 who had been hanging out with his buddies on the street corner ran over to help her. Another man had also seen her fall and rushed over. Between them they helped her up. The boy refused to leave until he knew she didn't have anything broken and that she wasn't dizzy. The older man walked her to her doctors office and stayed to make sure they bandaged the big scrape on her arm. By the end of her story, my heart was full, my throat was closed, and my eyes were brimming. She did not get their names.

There are wonderful and caring people in the world.

And to these two men in particular, I offer you my heartfelt thanks.

I wish I knew your names.

Thank you