Hitching a Ride
佚名 / Anonymous
My mother had just died from cancer， and I was a wreck. We hadn’t been very close and it had killed me that I never got to actually know who she is. Sometimes I feel it is worse that I didn’t know her than if I actually did and cared for her much more. So I was on my way to the funeral home and suddenly my car broke down. I pulled over onto the shoulder and began to feel sorry for myself. It felt to me that God was punishing me， first my mother dying， now this！ I slowly stumbled out of my car and checked to see what the problem was. It turned out my tire was flat and I did not have a spare. It seemed my luck was getting as worse as it could be. Then it began to rain. I quickly hopped back into my car and began to cry. I turned my emergencies on and just sat there crying.
Then it seemed out of nowhere this older woman pulled up behind me. I got out of nay car and she asked what the problem was. I told her and she said， “Well dear， I guess I’ll just have to take you to the funeral myself.” Then unbelievably she ushered me into her car and began driving. Soon I could feel the sun beaming on my face and felt my luck was suddenly changing. I smiled to myself. I was telling the lady the directions as we went and she told me she was headed to her sister’s house for dinner the exactly opposite way. I felt bad making her go out of her way but she would not stand for it； she told me she wanted to help me. So I just went along， telling her the directions， and eventually we came to the funeral home. I asked her for her name and number. She wrote it down for me. I thanked her for her help and felt a tear roll down my cheek， not for my mother， but for the kindness of the stranger I had just met.
I attended the funeral service， but always in the back of my mind was this old lady that had helped me. I hitched a ride with my brother back to my house and arranged for my car to be fixed. Everything became back to normal for me and soon I forgot about this lady who had helped me. Yesterday I was looking through some old shoeboxes and stumbled upon her number and decided to call her. A younger woman answered and she said she was the older woman’s daughter and that her mother had recently passed away. I was so shocked by that， and didn’t talk for a minute or two. Finally I asked where the funeral was and made plans to go to it.