unexpected goodness (By Laura)

We were exhausted and moody.  We had been cooped up in the stinky van for hours, and we still had a few hours yet to drive.  The kids had been fighting, and us in turn fighting with them.  Parenting shows its ugly side on long stretches of highway.

The van had a stench to it unlike many we had endured on road trips in the past.  We had been on the road for about a week and for the majority of that time, had been camping, so it was packed to the brim.  Pillows, blankets, backpacks and shoes, camping chairs, equipment, tarps, and food.  It was all jammed in there.  We had a bin full of books for the girls to read while we drove, many of which were library books borrowed shortly before our trip began.

Note to self: don't bring library books on a road trip.  The wear and tear is unimaginable.

Camping itself doesn't cause the odour we were putting up with.  But camping in the rain, that's another story.  It had poured.  Torrentially.  With much wind.  We could hardly light the camp stove, and so meals were quick and simple, and often cold.  It was a long three nights, and we were at least happy that we had opted to rent a mini cabin at the KOA - one room with beds that was out of the elements.  But what is one to do when everything, EVERYTHING, is wet?  We had wet clothes and towels, little Pony had seemingly peed on everything, since her wonderful toilet training had gone out the window on the trip, and so after the third night, we packed up all our wet stuff, and headed to meet up with friends for one last night before heading home.  The weather changed that day as we were driving and was absolutely beautiful.  In fact, it was HOT.  Uncomfortably so.  And what did we do?  Did we think of unpacking the van and letting it air out?  Did we think of bringing out the wet clothes and towels and letting them dry?  Nope.  We decided to leave them in the sauna that was our van and bake them for a day or so.  Result = stench.

So, there we were in our stinky van on the I-5, driving along on hour 4 or 5 or so, and everyone had finally quieted down.  Ryan was driving, two of the girls had drifted off and the other was reading quietly.  I was drifting myself, dealing with the beginning of a nasty cold, when all of a sudden Ryan said, "Laura, that woman is trying to say something to you!"

I opened my eyes and looked out my window and there was a nice looking older woman waving her arm out her window beside us, kind of pointing to the side of our van, and asking us to pull off.  What's more, she had money in her hand and was waving it around.

What. In. The. World.

We pulled over, wondering what this could be.  I won't lie.  We felt a little nervous.  Was there something on our van?  Were we losing money out the back?  (All that cash we had stashed in the bumper...) But out she hopped, as well as a nice looking older man, and with huge grins on their faces, they ran towards our van and up to Ryan's window.

"HI!" She bellowed.  "We saw the sign on your van!" ("peace arch doula - pregnancy, labour & birth, postpartum") "Do you do birth work?"

"Yes, I do!  I'm a doula!" I smiled back, rather unsure but eager to hear what she had to say about it.

"OH THAT IS JUST WONDERFUL!" She hollered, "We love LOVE that!  We kind of work in similar fields!  I'm a social worker and my husband is a physician.  Our daughter is a nurse too!  We just wanted to say that we think it's such important work and we want to support you and give you some money towards your work!"

And then they handed us $100, and after our baffled 'thank you's' and 'wow's', they ran back to their car, gleeful and cheery, and drove off.

That was a crazy next half hour.  It was so random, yet so lovely, to have such a gift dropped into our laps at the most unexpected time.  Why had they done that?  What goodness had urged them to stop us and give us that "blessing", and that money?  The money was so much less amazing than just the simple act of stopping us and giving us such kind, supportive words, and we drove on amazed and thankful for such unexpected goodness that we encountered that day.

Ryan and I talk about these kinds of things - that goodness is something that we can choose to engage in.  Sometimes it's in deliberately doing things like paying for the person behind you at the drive-thru, or giving to charity.  But other times, and this is what we strive for, it's simply an openness to those little urges we feel.  When we see someone we don't know but feel they could use a smile, or a kind word, or a $20 bill, and just going for it - these are the moments that make such a difference.  They bring light into the world.  They lift life out of the dreariness and transform it into something beautiful.  I would argue that those little urges come from a spiritual realm, and that our job is to tune our ears and listen hard, acting as we feel led.  We can make a world of difference for each other in such simple ways.