Damsel in Distress

So I’m driving home from work last night, it’s snowing pretty hard and I’m annoyed. I’m thinking about what it would be like to go through an entire winter with no snow. No salt, no ice. No accidents or sitting in traffic for days on end. I’m thinking that California sounds pretty good at this point. I’ll take the 103 degree days, the sushi and the “Dr. 90210” bodies. After all, I like sand and sun.

The icing on the cake, however, was hitting a minute chunk of ice, (roughly the size of a cantaloupe,) and just hearing my tire explode. My front left tire. Flat. Flatter than flat; and in about 6 seconds, impressive actually. So here I am, madder then mad, sitting on the side of the road for about 45 seconds before a man in shining armor, (or Carhartts,) pulls up. He happens to have a portable air compressor, all filled. My luck that day had taken a drastic change. His name was Matt and he was a mechanic. Thank you God.

He filled the tire with air and it was flat in about six seconds. The ice chunk had made about a quarter size hole in the outer tread. Without thinking twice he asked if I had a spare, which I did. So there he was, jacking up my truck in what seemed to be sub-zero temperatures, as I stood in my mittens, still shocked that someone stopped to help me. People still do things like that? He was a young man, married with a baby on the way; an absolute outstanding citizen in my book. I was so grateful, as was my husband. Triple A may have taken an hour and Matt had me up and going in about ten minutes. He even reminded me to move away from the road several times and to release the parking break.

I asked that he take money, but he strongly refused. He said that was not why he stopped and that it simply looked like I needed help. He was right. His care and compassion made me thankful for living in Western New York. The people in our area are genuine, true people, with heart and integrity. Heck, I now love snow and have nominated Matt for a
Nobel Peace Prize.

I’m just thankful that people like him are still around. So if you see a girl on the side of the road with a flat tire and her mascara running, stop. If there is a jerk driver in front of you, don’t beep. And if you ever need a mechanic, go to United 4 Wheel Drive, on Main St in Clarence and ask for Matt.