It's The Little Things

I was driving home from the shelter this evening, and as I exited off the highway, I saw a turtle in the middle of the road. Thankfully I didn't hit it, but I knew his chances of making it across the road alive were slim to none. There was no safe place to pull off on the side of the road because there is no shoulder at this spot, so I drove a bit further and pulled into a business drive a little way down the road. I didn't really know what I was going to do, but I felt like since I had seen it, I should do something. So, I turned off the car, got out, and started running back down the side of the road, through the middle of weeds, thinking how stupid I must look to cars passing by, and watching the turtle, looking away each time a car drove by, because I knew I couldn't handle seeing him get squished right as I was on my way to move him. So, I made it to the point in the road where he was and ran out when the cars were clear to move him. I was a bit nervous picking him up, because I didn't know if he was a snapper or not, and I had Jesse's voice ringing in my ears, Turtles are notorious for disease. (We recently had a turtle discussion when we saw one walking the dogs the other day.) Anyway, I went a little deeper into the weeds, to try to make sure he didn't turn back around and get right back on the road. As I was doing all of this, I was also thinking about how I often see creepy people walking this stretch of road and I was a little nervous just walking out by myself. Of course, on que, as I turn around, there is an old rusty pick up truck stopped behind me with two guys in it who look....hmmm...I'll say "weathered". They both look serious and yell "Are you okay?" and I look right back at them, smiling like a big dork, and say "Yea, there was just a big turtle in the middle of the road that I wanted to move.", thinking about how they will either a) think I'm a stupid fool or b) perhaps jump out, kidnap me, and then brutally murder me. Instead, they both smiled and said "That's awesome!". So, I started jogging back to my car, and they drove away in their truck. I was relieved that I hadn't been kidnapped, so I was all happy jogging back to the car. Then I realized that they had turned around and were coming back. They slowed down again and yelled out "Hey, just want you to know, that's really great. Wish there were more people like that." and then sped away.

Of course, I smiled like an even bigger dork and kept running. Every once in a while, you have some exchange with a stranger that reminds you that the world isn't so bad after all. I also thought about how stupid and judgemental I had been toward them when I first saw them. You never know what package kindness will arrive in. Many cars passed me, but they were the only ones who stopped to see if I was okay. And then they were kind enough to stop again just to tell me that they liked what I had done.

Ahhhh...warm fuzzies.