Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Tuesdays With MeMe -That 's Just The Way It Was

Sharing an incident I will never forget. My son and his wife were living in Portland, Oregon. I went to visit a few days in the later part of February of 1996. If you are familiar with Oregon, you know it is cold and rains most every day. They both worked, and had this sweet Cocker Spaniel puppy. Her name was Calamity. While they were working, I baby set with her. Over the weekend, they had planed a little trip or had to work, cannot remember which. That left me and Calamity alone. Early that Saturday morning, which was very cold, I went out to get the paper. I only had on my gown as I was just going to dash out and right back. Big mistake. The door locked behind me. I had no key, no way to contact them, freezing to death, and worried about the puppy. Panic set in!

I was in an area totally strange to me. I just picked a house from random. Knew absolutely no one around there. Bear in mind this was a Saturday and most people were off and sleeping in late. I am sure it was annoying as well as a shock when I aroused the neighbors from their sleep. Especially, when the lady saw a total stranger, stressed out, and in her gown standing at the door in the cold, early morning. I explained my predicament to her. She very graciously invited me in, got me a coat, made coffee, and tried to calm me down.

After awhile, she got her husband up to join in this fiasco. We discussed the situation and he tried to figure out what to do. He made several calls to different places that would have a connection to the addition, but no one answered. Beings it was a Saturday, the places he called were closed. After a couple of hours, I asked him to try and find a locksmith. He hated to do that as it is costly. We finally decided there was nothing else left to do. He found one, and in less than five minutes upon his arrival, he had the door unlocked. Luckily, I had brought enough money. I have never met strangers that were as nice and helpful as this couple. I definitely randomly selected the right house.

After I returned home, I sent her a little token of my appreciation. This is the note I received back from her. Wish I knew their whereabouts now.

That chapter ended, but another begin. On Sunday morning, I broke my glasses. Why do things always seem to happen on the weekend, when it is hard to find help? My daughter-in-law drove around for sometime trying to find an optical place open. Bear in mind, this was on Sunday. Thank goodness we finally found one and solved that issue. As of today, I have not been back to Portland, Oregon, and most likely never will again. My family moved to Texas shortly after that. How fortunate for me.

14 comments:

Little Susie Home Maker said...

Oh, isn't that sweet that you met such kind people? I bet you felt silly, but people are more understanding than we sometimes expect. What a blessing for you that they were home!
Blessings,
Susie

Unknown said...

It just goes to show that there are lovely people out there when when we need them. Glad it all ended well. dee x

Kelly said...

I'm so glad things worked out for you the way they did! It is amazing to find people as nice and as helpful as those were for you! Thanks for sharing!

Ruth Hiebert said...

Probably a good idea not to venture back there,but you did make some lasting memories while there.

Grammy Goodwill said...

Thanks for sharing your stories with us. It's good to know there are helpful neighbors.

Ann@A Sentimental Life said...

Oh LV, I have a vision in my mind. Probably because something very similar happened to my Mom! she went out to get the paper on a snowy morning and the door blew shut and locked her out. She had to go to the garage and put garbage bags on her feet. She said people she knew drove by and waved...did they not realize this was unusual for my Mom? Someone finally picked her up and took her to her friends house who had a key.
Makes me giggle, but it was stressful at the time.
I wish she was here for me to tell her your story.

George said...

I think I can understand why you have desire to visit Portland again, after the weekend you shared with us. But you certainly met some very nice people as a result of your predicament.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Oh My Goodness... Reminds all of us probably of little things which happen to us too... You handled the situation very well --and the neighbors were very nice...

It's true though that things like that do seem to happen on the weekends... Of course, these days, places like that are usually open on weekends---unfortunately.

Glad your kids moved to Texas!!!! That's a little closer than Oregon!

Have a great weekend.
Hugs,
Betsy

White Ironstone Cottage said...

I Love Texas
What a sweet letter and adorable post
xxoo
Pam

Stephanie @ La Dolce Vita said...

most people really are so very kind, aren't they? a very sweet story!

Nani said...

In times of distress, most people will step up and help. I've found that while the nasty ones get all the press, there are still more of us than them!

From the letter it seems you did get help from sincerely kind people!

Gardener on Sherlock Street said...

I think nice people find nice people when they need them. What a story though. When we got new locks for our doors, we got ones that you have to use the key to lock them from the outside.

ThreeOldKeys said...

what a sweet, well-written letter. your "random choice" of a neighbor was indeed a good one.

and how nice to have sent them a thank-you. now there are nice memories in at least 2 families.

Chubskulit Rose said...

Such a lovely letter!